According to the CDC, blood pressure is the pressure of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. Too much pressure on the arteries can the arteries to weaken and burst or to become blocked, stopping blood flow. 

Nationally, the prevalence of high blood pressure awareness is estimated to be 32.4%.  In Connecticut, the estimated prevalence is 27.9% among adults (18+ years old).  Healthcare providers may prescribe medications to control high blood pressure

The percent of Connecticut adults with diagnosed hypertension who are taking medication to control their hypertension has remained constant.  The decrease from 2011 to 2017 did not reach statistical significance.  This means that there is not 95% certainty that the change over time was real.

The BRFSS question about taking medication to control hypertension is asked only in odd-numbered years. To improve the precision of the estimates, two years of data were aggregated. The years listed on the x-axis of the chart represent the end-point of the two years. For example, the 2013 data point is the average of data from 2011 and 2013. However, the data point for 2011 represents only one year of data because of the new survey methodology.

Rates are age-adjusted to the US 2000 population. Percentages are age-adjusted to eliminate differences in crude rates that result from differences in the populations’ age distributions from year to year.

Note: New BRFSS weighting and survey methodologies began in 2011 and include data collected from cellular telephones. These rates are not comparable to rates from 2010 and earlier.

The target was developed as part of Healthy Connecticut 2020 and Live Healthy Connecticut, A Coordinated Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Plan.

These data are current as of December 2022.  New data will be made available in the Fall of 2024.

For more cardiovascular diseases statistics, visit www.ct.gov/dph/heartstrokedata.

Potential Partners:
Connecticut Department of Public Health; Connecticut Department of Agriculture; Connecticut Department of
Social Services; Department of Rehabilitation Services State Unit on Aging; Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection;
Office of the Healthcare Advocate; Regional Extension Center (eHealthConnecticut); local public health agencies; health care providers including community healthcenters, hospitals, nurses and physicians; health professional associations; health insurers; pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies; other businesses and business associations; American Heart Association; other organizations and
coalitions focused on heart disease and stroke; community service providers that serve seniors and other at-risk
populations; philanthropic and research organizations that address heart disease and stroke; University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy; schools of public health, allied health, nursing, and medicine; faith-based organizations; and others.

Million Hearts™ is a national initiative that involves multiple federal agencies and key private organizations to prevent 1 million cardiovascular events in the U.S. by 2022.

Also, the Guide to Community Preventive Services Task Force made the following recommendations regarding cardiovascular disease prevention and control:
1. Clinical Decision Support Systems can increase the quality of cardiovascular care. Clinical Decision Support Systems are computer-based information systems designed to assist healthcare providers in implementing clinical guidelines at the point of care.
2. Reduced out-of-pocket costs for patients is associated with improvements in medication adherence, and blood pressure and cholesterol outcomes.
3. Team-based care led to better control of high blood pressure. Team-based care to improve blood pressure control is a health systems-level, organizational intervention that incorporates a multidisciplinary team to improve the quality of hypertension care for patients.

Assist health systems to establish policies for self-blood pressure monitoring in patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure

Identify and support food procurement policy changes to reduce the sodium content in food, with a focus on institutional food purchasers

Work with academic partners and community pharmacies to develop and implement a medication therapy management pilot for at risk patients with high blood pressure and diabetes to promote better control of these chronic illnesses

Collaborate with the Office of Genomics and the American Heart Association to offer a cardiovascular disease genomics symposium for health care professionals to raise awareness concerning the role genetics plays in heart disease

Promote the use of health information technology strategies and population health management tools to improve the quality of preventive care