Background: Hypertension is one of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, unbalanced regional development and different research designs lead to greater heterogeneity of hypertension data in China, and lack of a summary of long-term variation trends. The aim was to estimate the pooled prevalence of hypertension and to describe the secular trend in hypertension.
Methods: Literatures, related to the prevalence of hypertension among Chinese adults, were searched through both English and Chinese databases. The pooled prevalence was estimated with random effects. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression was conducted to address heterogeneity. Continuous fractional polynomial regression model and compound model were used to estimate the trend of hypertension prevalence with time.
Results: A total of 18 studies were included and the whole population was 9, 191, 121. The pooled prevalence of hypertension among Chinese adults was 24.3% (95% CI: 18.8-29.8%), increasing from the west to the east. Hypertension was more common in male than in female (27.8% vs. 25.1%) and in urban population than in rural population (27.0% vs. 26.0%). The annual increase of prevalence was about 0.29% nonlinearly before 2004 and maintained approximately 2.45% per year between 2004 and 2010. After a significant decline in 2011, there was a slight incline.
Conclusions: The prevalence of hypertension in Chinese adults has been increasing, indicating that more efforts should be strengthened for hypertension management in China.
Keywords: Hypertension; fractional polynomial regression; meta-analysis; prevalence.