One in five New Jersey residents that present in a hospital emergency room and are treated and released are suffering from hypertension. One out of two New Jersey residents suffering from a chronic condition that present in a hospital emergency room and are treated and released are suffering from hypertension.
Hypertension is a significant health problem in New Jersey that is more prominent in the elderly population. In fact, 75 percent of the patients with hypertension that were treated and released from a hospital emergency department were over the age of 50. The average age of a patient treated and released from a hospital emergency department is 38. The average age of a hospital emergency department treat-and-release patient with hypertension is 62.
Hover over charts to see data.
Hypertension: Emergency Department Visits by Age and Gender
| FEMALE | MALE |
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| Age |
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| 0 - 20 years |
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| 21 - 30 years |
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| 31 - 40 years |
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| 41 - 50 years |
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| 51 - 60 years |
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| 61 - 70 years |
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| 71 - 80 years |
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| 81+ years |
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Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- One in three American adults suffer from high blood pressure.
- High blood pressure contributes to 1,000 deaths per day.
- People with high blood pressure are:
- Four times more likely to die from a stroke.
- Three times more likely to die from heart disease.
- 69 percent of people that have a first heart attack suffer from high blood pressure.
- 77 percent of people that have a first stroke suffer from high blood pressure.
- Only 47 percent of people with high blood pressure have their condition under control.
- Reducing systolic blood pressure by 12-13 mmHg could reduce:
- Stroke by 37 percent
- Coronary heart disease by 21 percent
- Deaths from cardiovascular disease by 25 percent
- Deaths from all causes by 13 percent
Of the 11 chronic conditions evaluated in this study, hypertension was the most prevalent, present almost 600,000 times in New Jersey hospital emergency department treat-and-release patient records. This accounts for 48.6 percent of the chronic condition activity in hospital emergency departments.
This study establishes that chronic conditions are more prevalent in the elderly population, but when the data is stratified by gender, the rate of hospital emergency department activity associated with elderly women outpaces that of elderly men.
Identifying hypertension as a prominent chronic condition that has a debilitating impact on health status and the overall cost of healthcare is not a new finding. Nor is the goal of reducing its stronghold on society. The medical and human costs associated with other health disorders such as heart disease, kidney failure and stroke, can be improved through better hypertension management. This study encourages a more thoughtful discussion around developing a useful framework to build on current strategies utilized for more effective hypertension management.
