Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension in the general population of Australia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

A recent call-to-action highlighted that Australia is lagging behind high-income countries regarding hypertension control rates. We performed a systematic literature search of reports on prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rates since 2010. We also undertook an individual participant data meta-analysis of six population-based studies in the general population from 1980 to 2018 to understand the size of the problem and trajectories over time. The aggregated data showed that after 2010, hypertension prevalence was 31% [95% confidence interval (CI) 27-34%], and awareness, treatment, and control rates among people with hypertension were 56% (41-71%), 54% (46-62%) and 34% (22-47%), respectively. Since 1980, these figures have shown slight improvement. However, we noted a low availability of quality nationwide databases for Australia. We require critical action to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of hypertension, and highlight the need for large-scale investment in tracking population health in order to produce vital health statistics for the nation.