Pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension in urban Chinese adults: a population-based cross-sectional study

Hypertension is common in adults and often undiagnosed, and the prevalence of pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension remains unclear. we aimed to investigate the prevalence of pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension and their correlates among urban chinese adults. a total of 7435 participants aged 20–79 were included in this study. data on demographics, lifestyle and medical history were collected through a structured interview. pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure/ diastolic blood pressure (sbp/dbp) of 120–139/80–89 mm hg and sbp⩾140 mm hg and/or dbp⩾90 mm hg, respectively, in participants without a history of hypertension and use of antihypertensive medication. prevalence rates were calculated and standardized using local age- and gender-specific census data. data were analysed using multinomial logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounders. of all the participants, 2726 (36.7%) were diagnosed with pre-hypertension and 919 (12.3%) with undiagnosed-hypertension. undiagnosed-hypertension accounted for 37.3% of all participants with hypertension. the prevalence of pre-hypertension gradually decreased with age, while undiagnosed-hypertension increased, although presenting different changing patterns among men and women. in a fully adjusted multinomial logistic regression, age, male sex, low socio-economic status (ses), abdominal obesity, alcohol drinking, physical inactivity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) were significantly associated with increased odds of pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension. in conclusions, the prevalence of pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension was ~50% among urban chinese adults. abdominal obesity, low ses, alcohol drinking, physical inactivity and t2dm may be indicators for pre- and undiagnosed-hypertension.