High blood pressure 2008

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High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can cause stroke, heart attack, and heart and kidney failure. It can narrow and block arteries and strain and weaken the body's organs.

In 2008, 16.4% of Canadians aged 12 or older reported that they had high blood pressure. This was not a significant change from 2007, but was a significant increase from 2005

Chart 1

Description

Overall, women (16.9%) were more likely than men (15.9%) to report that they had been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Among both sexes, the percentage with high blood pressure increased with age.

Chart 2

Description

Since 2001, rural residents have been more likely than urban Canadians to have high blood pressure. In 2008, 19.1% of rural dwellers had been diagnosed with high blood pressure, compared with 15.8% of those in urban areas.

Alberta (14.8%), British Columbia (14.7%), Yukon (11.3%), Northwest Territories (10.8%) and Nunavut (6.1%) reported high blood pressure rates that were lower than the national average. Rates in Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario were about the same as Canada's average. Residents of the other provinces reported hypertension rates that were higher than the rate for Canada as a whole.

Because high blood pressure is strongly related to age, provinces or territories with a disproportionately large number of younger people would be expected to have rates lower than the national average. The reverse would be true for provinces or territories with a disproportionately large number of older residents. To remove the effect of different age distributions, the high blood pressure rates were recalculated as if the age groups in each province and territory were the same as the national level. When this was done, only British Columbia and Yukon had rates below the rate for Canada. The rates in Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut were not significantly different from the national rate, and all other provinces were higher.

Source

Additional information from the Canadian Community Health Survey is available from CANSIM table 105-0501.

References

At risk of first or recurring heart disease. Johansen H, Nargundkar M, Nair C, et al. 1997; 9(4): 19-29.
Living with heart disease-the working-age population. Johansen H. 1999; 10(4): 33-46.
Sodium consumption at all ages. Garriguet D. 2007; 18(2): 47-52.