Trends in the Prevalence of Hypertension in Island and Coastal Areas of China: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND With the economic development in recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of hypertension in some coastal cities of China; however, the number of reports regarding the prevalence of hypertension based on a nationwide study of island and coastal areas of China is limited. We estimated the prevalence and described the trends of hypertension during the last 3 decades in these specific areas. METHODS Authoritative databases were searched for cross-sectional studies reporting the prevalence of hypertension in island and coastal areas of China published in the past 3 decades, and 37 studies that involved 760,428 individuals representing 22 different locations were identified and included in our analysis. RESULTS The estimated prevalence of hypertension was 9.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 6.3%-14.9%) in the 1980s, 18.5% (95% CI = 13.6%-24.8%) in the 1990s, and 30.0% (95% CI = 26.7%-33.6%) in the 2000s (.2 for trend: P = 0.00). In the 2000s, adjusted prevalence estimate of hypertension was 21.6% according to the national standard population composition in 1990, and the pooled prevalence estimate for the northern region in coastal areas of China was significantly higher than the southern region (36.2% vs. 26.2%; P = 0.002). Thus, the prevalence of hypertension in the island and coastal areas of China appears to have increased 21.5% in the last 3 decades; the increasing trend was observed in men and women. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight the urgent need for public health strategies with more emphasis on improvement of primary health care in the island and coastal areas of China.