Abstract 14218: Trends in Prevalence of Hypertension and Untreated Hypertension Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Japan

Background: To examine influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood pressure in a general population, trends in prevalence of hypertension and untreated hypertension before and during the COVID-19 pandemic period were examined.

Methods: We studied subjects aged 40 to 79 who had the annual health checkup offered to adult citizens of Moriguchi city, Osaka, Japan from 2015 to 2022. Sex-specific age-standardized prevalence rates of hypertension (systolic blood pressure (BP)

140 mmHg, diastolic BP 90 mmHg, or receiving antihypertensives) and those of untreated hypertension to the WHO reference population with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Statistically significant difference was determined by 95% CI compared to the 95% CI of the prevalence of 2015.

Results: Number of subjects and trends in prevalence of hypertension and untreated hypertension with 95% CI are presented in the figure. From 2015 to 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic period) prevalence of hypertension and untreated hypertension did not change both in men and women. However, from 2020 to 2022 (during the COVID-19 pandemic period), prevalence of hypertension and untreated hypertension significantly increased compared to 2015, except for prevalence of hypertension in women in 2020 and that of untreated hypertension in men in 2022.

Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic period, higher prevalence of hypertension and untreated hypertension was observed in a general population in Japan.