TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lee, Hyeri
AU  - Kim, Minji
AU  - Woo, Selin
AU  - Park, Jaeyu
AU  - Kim, Hyeon Jin
AU  - Kwon, Rosie
AU  - Koyanagi, Ai
AU  - Smith, Lee
AU  - Kim, Min Seo
AU  - López Sánchez, Guillermo F
AU  - Dragioti, Elena
AU  - Lee, Jinseok
AU  - Lee, Hayeon
AU  - Rahmati, Masoud
AU  - Rhee, Sang Youl
AU  - Lee, Jun Hyuk
AU  - Woo, Ho Geol
AU  - Yon, Dong Keon
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/7/30
TI  - National and Regional Trends in the Prevalence of Hypertension in South Korea Amid the Pandemic, 2009-2022: Nationwide Study of Over 3 Million Individuals
JO  - JMIR Public Health Surveill
SP  - e51891
VL  - 10
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - pandemic
KW  - Korea
KW  - hypertension
KW  - HPN
KW  - high blood pressure
KW  - prevalence
KW  - national trends
KW  - regional trends
KW  - nationwide study
KW  - socioeconomic
KW  - trends
KW  - participant
KW  - population based
KW  - cross-sectional study
KW  - treatment
AB  - Background: Understanding the association between hypertension prevalence and socioeconomic and behavioral variables during a pandemic is essential, and this analysis should extend beyond short-term trends. Objective: This study aims to examine long-term trends in the prevalence of participants diagnosed with and receiving treatment for hypertension, using data collected by a nationally representative survey from 2009 to 2022, which includes the COVID-19 pandemic era. Methods: A nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study used data collected from the South Korea Community Health Survey between 2009 and 2022. The study sample comprised 3,208,710 Korean adults over a period of 14 years. We aimed to assess trends in the prevalence of participants diagnosed with and receiving treatment for hypertension in the national population from 2009 to 2022, with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, using weighted linear regression models. Results: Among the included 3,072,546 Korean adults, 794,239 (25.85%) were aged 19-39 years, 1,179,388 (38.38%) were aged 40-59 years; 948,097 (30.86%) were aged 60-79 years, and 150,822 (4.91%) were aged 80 years or older. A total of 1,426,379 (46.42%) were men; 761,896 (24.80%) and 712,264 (23.18%) were diagnosed with and received treatment for hypertension, respectively. Although the overall prevalence over the 14-year period increased, the upward trends of patients diagnosed with and receiving treatment for hypertension decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic era compared with the prepandemic era (β difference for trend during vs before the pandemic –.101, 95% CI –0.107 to –0.094 vs –.133, 95% CI –0.140 to –0.127). Notably, the trends in prevalence during the pandemic were less pronounced in subgroups of older adults (≥60 years old) and individuals with higher alcohol consumption (≥5 days/month). Conclusions: This nationwide representative study found that the national prevalence of participants diagnosed with and receiving treatment for hypertension increased during the prepandemic era. However, there was a marked decrease in these trends during the prepandemic era, compared with the pandemic era, particularly among specific subgroups at increased risk of negative outcomes. Future studies are needed to evaluate the factors associated with changes in the prevalence of hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
SN  - 2369-2960
UR  - https://publichealth.jmir.org/2024/1/e51891
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/51891
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39078683
DO  - 10.2196/51891
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/51891
ER  -