Hypertension in urban Mexico: The 1992-93 national survey of chronic diseases

The purpose of this work is to estimate the prevalence of hypertension in t he urban population of Mexico. We studied a multistage national sample repr esentative of the urban population in 417 cities of over 2500 people. The b lood pressure of 14 657 individuals (6053 men and 8604 women) aged 20-69 ye ars was measured after a 5-min rest using a standard mercury sphygmomanomet er. The survey personnel had been previously trained and standardised. The main results show a crude prevalence of hypertension, as defined by the JNC VI, of 28.1% in women and 37.5% in men (27.2% and 37.1% age-adjusted). Both genders exhibited a trend of increasing hypertension with age. In ind ividuals under 50 years of age, women had lower rates than men, but the dif ference disappeared in the older groups. The awareness of hypertension (28% ) as well as the success of treatment (22%) were low in our sample. Our res ults had more similarities than differences with respect to those observed in other national surveys. It is concluded that hypertension in Mexico is an important public health p roblem similar to that seen in developing and developed nations. Efforts sh ould be aimed at strengthening measures to prevent and control hypertension in Mexico. More information is needed of the sort obtained from longitudin al studies.