Prevalence of Isolated Systolic Hypertension in Mexican Americans and Other Hispanics

Background: Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) is one of hypertension hemodynamic subtypes. Although the prevalence of hypertension has been reported in Hispanics, the prevalence of ISH has not been fully investigated. Design and Methods: 7,546 Hispanic adults aged ≥18 years, representative of the US civilian noninstitutionalized Hispanic population, were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) through a stratified multistage probability clustered sampling design. The prevalence estimates of ISH and 95% confidence intervals in Hispanics (including Mexican Americans and other Hispanics) were estimated by conducting weighted frequency and logistic procedures. Results: The prevalence of ISH was 11.21% among Hispanics adults in 1999-2010. The prevalence of ISH did not differ significantly between Mexican Americans and other Hispanics. Women were more prevalent in ISH than men (12.98% vs 8.98%) in Hispanics. Adults with a lower education (high school or below) had higher prevalence of ISH than adults with a higher education (college or above) in either of Hispanics (12.10% vs 7.58%) and Mexican Americans (12.14% vs 6.99%). For Hispanics and Mexican Americans, the prevalence of ISH was higher in elderly women than in elderly men, and higher in elderly adults with a lower education than in those with a higher education. Among all Hispanics who received a lower education, women had higher prevalence of ISH than men (14.17% vs 9.80%). In Mexican women, those with a lower education were more prevalent in ISH than those with a higher education (13.48% vs 6.64%). Conclusion: ISH is more prevalent in adults with a lower education in Mexican Americans. Considering Mexican Americans accounted for the vast majority of the Hispanic population and 74.09% of them received a high school education or below, more efforts and investments for enhancing the education attainment in Mexican Americans may significantly improve ISH in the Hispanic population.