Prevalence of arterial hypertension and attitudes toward healthy lifestyle principles in a representative sample of the adult population

Aim. To assess the prevalence of hypertension and adherence to healthy lifestyle using a survey of a representative group of adults.

Material and methods. Retrospective analysis of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of the Higher School of Economics for 2023. The analysis included data from 8,435 respondents aged 18 years and older, of whom 38.3 % answered positively to the question about hypertension and 61.7 % answered negatively. The analysis included responses to questions about height, weight, history of myocardial infarction, and characteristics reflecting attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle.

Results. The frequency of positive responses regarding the presence of hypertension was 38.3 %, increasing with age: from 3.4 % among respondents aged 18–29.5 years to 97.7 % at the age of 80 and above. The average age of respondents with hypertension was 65.5 ± 13.4 years, without hypertension 42.1 ± 15.1 years; the proportion of respondents with a body mass index of 30 and above was 13.8 and 40 %, respectively (p < 0.0001). Respondents with hypertension more often reported diabetes mellitus, a history of stroke and / or myocardial infarction. The proportion of smokers among respondents with hypertension (16.4 %) was lower than among respondents without hypertension (28.7 %; the differences remained significant when taking into account age and sex; p < 0.0001). However, only 1.3 % of respondents without hypertension and 5.5 % with hypertension (p < 0.0001) met the “healthy lifestyle” criteria selected for the study. Age (p < 0.0001) and the presence of diabetes (p < 0.0001) were associated with adherence to a healthy lifestyle; sex, hypertension, body mass index (30 kg / m² or above), history of myocardial infarction and stroke were not independent factors.

Conclusion. The results indicate slight differences in the estimated prevalence of hypertension based on the survey data and the Russian Ministry of Health’s data on morbidity as well as very low level of adherence to healthy lifestyle among the respondents. However, adherence showed a tendency to increase with age and the prevalence of diseases.