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CHICAGO, July 8 (AFP) - Nearly one in three American adults suffers from hypertension, according to a new study highlighting a four percent increase of the condition's prevalence during the last decade.
The study, due to appear Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that 29 percent of US adults, or 58 million people, now suffer from the condition.
A team of researchers, led by Ihab Hajjar of the University of South Caroline, and Theodore Kotchen of Wisconsin Medical College, compared figures from a 1999-2000 survey with results of a similar poll taken in 1988-1991.
The study highlighted that the condition is especially common among non-Hispanic blacks, at 33.5 percent.
Women appeared more likely to have the condition, at 30.1 percent of those surveyed.
The likelihood of having the condition increases with age. Some 65.4 percent of over people over 60 suffer from hypertension.
Most of the people questioned in the survey were not aware they had the condition.
Hypertension, a major risk factor in cardiovascular ailments, is defined as having a measured blood pressure of 140/90 and above.
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