Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Hypertension in Mexico and among Mexican Americans: prevalence and treatment patterns

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 617–626 (2008)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 21 August 2008

Abstract

Increased social and economic integration across the US–Mexican borders has led to important new developments in public health. Lower levels of cardiovascular mortality have been observed among Mexican Americans (MAs) although few direct comparisons have been undertaken with Mexico. Using survey data in the respective countries we examined blood pressure (BP) levels, hypertension prevalence and patterns of awareness, treatment and control in Mexico and among MAs. A national representative sample of the adult population from Mexico collected in 2000 (N=49 294), and data on 8688 MA participants in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination survey from the United States were available for analysis. US-born MAs and those born in Mexico were analysed separately in the US data. Lack of direct standardization of methods between surveys necessitated statistical adjustment of BP values. Analyses were based on persons aged 25–64 in each country. Sex- and age-adjusted mean systolic/diastolic BPs were 122/80, 119/71 and 120/73 in Mexicans, immigrant MAs and US-born MAs, respectively. The prevalences of hypertension (BP⩾140/90 or treatment) were 33, 17 and 22%. Hypertension control rates were 3.7, 32.1 and 37.9%, in the same groups. Awareness and treatment rates were 25 and 13% in Mexico and 54 and 46% among MAs in the United States, respectively. Hypertension appears to be more common in Mexico than among Mexican immigrants to the United States. Despite relatively low access to health insurance in the United States, hypertension control increased over the course of this migration.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Stern MP, Wei M . Do Mexican Americans really have low rates of cardiovascular disease? Prev Med 1999; 29: S90–S95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cooper R, Cutler J, Desvigne-Nickens P, Fortmann SP, Friedman L, Havlik R et al. Trends and disparities in coronary heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases in the United States: findings of the national conference on cardiovascular disease prevention. Circulation 2000; 102: 3137–3147.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Crespo CJ, Loria CM, Burt VL . Hypertension and other cardiovascular disease risk factors among Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Public Health Rep 1996; 111 (Suppl 2): 7–10.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Vargas CM, Burt VL, Gillum RF . Cardiovascular disease in the NHANES III. Ann Epidemiol 1997; 7: 523–525.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Rivera JA, Barquera S, Campirano F, Campos I, Safdie M, Tovar V . Epidemiological and nutritional transition in Mexico: rapid increase of non-communicable chronic diseases and obesity. Public Health Nutr 2002; 5: 113–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Sanchez-Castillo CP, Velazquez-Monroy O, Berber A, Lara-Esqueda A, Tapia-Conyer R, James WP . Anthropometric cutoff points for predicting chronic diseases in the Mexican National Health Survey 2000. Obes Res 2003; 11: 442–451.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Murray CJ, Lopez AD . Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet 1997; 349: 1436–1442.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ordunez P, Silva LC, Rodriguez MP, Robles S . Prevalence estimates for hypertension in Latin America and the Caribbean: are they useful for surveillance? Rev Panam Salud Publica 2001; 10: 226–231.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wolf-Maier K, Cooper RS, Banegas JR, Giampaoli S, Hense HW, Joffres M et al. Hypertension prevalence and blood pressure levels in 6 European countries, Canada, and the United States. JAMA 2003; 289: 2363–2369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Banegas JR, Rodriguez-Artalejo F, de la Cruz Troca JJ, Guallar-Castillon P, del Rey Calero J . Blood pressure in Spain: distribution, awareness, control, and benefits of a reduction in average pressure. Hypertension 1998; 32: 998–1002.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Joffres MR, Ghadirian P, Fodor JG, Petrasovits A, Chockalingam A, Hamet P . Awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in Canada. Am J Hypertens 1997; 10: 1097–1102.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Kastarinen MJ, Salomaa VV, Vartiainen EA, Jousilahti PJ, Tuomilehto JO, Puska PM et al. Trends in blood pressure levels and control of hypertension in Finland from 1982 to 1997. J Hypertens 1998; 16: 1379–1387.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Primatesta P, Brookes M, Poulter NR . Improved hypertension management and control: results from the health survey for England 1998. Hypertension 2001; 38: 827–832.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Burt VL, Whelton P, Roccella EJ, Brown C, Cutler JA, Higgins M et al. Prevalence of hypertension in the US adult population. Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1991. Hypertension 1995; 25: 305–313.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Wolf-Maier K, Cooper RS, Kramer H, Banegas JR, Giampaoli S, Joffres MR et al. Hypertension treatment and control in five European countries, Canada, and the United States. Hypertension 2004; 43: 10–17.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. NHANES—National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey—NHANES 1999–2004: US Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.cde.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/nhanes_03_04/general_data_release_doc_03_4.pdf;Accessed February 14, 2008) December 9, 2005.

  17. Cooper R, Puras A, Tracy J, Kaufman J, Asuzu M, Ordunez P et al. Evaluation of an electronic blood pressure device for epidemiological studies. Blood Press Jonit 1997; 2: 35–40.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7). Hypertension 2003; 42: 1206–1252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Barquera S, Tovar-Guzman V, Campos-Nonato I, Gonzalez-Villalpando C, Rivera-Dommarco J . Geography of diabetes mellitus mortality in Mexico: an epidemiologic transition analysis. Arch Med Res 2003; 34: 407–414.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Cruz M, Torres M, Aguilar-Herrera B, Perez-Johnston R, Guzman-Juarez N, Aranda M et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus in children—an increasing health problem in Mexico. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2004; 17: 183–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Rull JA, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Rojas R, Rios-Torres JM, Gomez-Perez FJ, Olaiz G . Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes in Mexico. Arch Med Res 2005; 36: 188–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Durazo-Arvizu RA, Barquera S, Lazo-Elizondo M, Franco M, Cooper RS . Cardiovascular disease surveillance in Mexican and Mexican Americans: a tale of two countries. Pan Am J Public Health, in press.

  23. Espino DV, Burge SK, Moreno CA . The prevalence of selected chronic diseases among the Mexican-American elderly: data from the 1982–1984 Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. J Am Board Fam Pract 1991; 4: 217–222.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Stern MP . Cardiovascular and other chronic diseases among Mexican Americans: the emerging picture. Ethn Dis 1993; 3: 7–10.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Sanchez-Zamorano LM D-AR, Hernandez-Avila M, Lazcano-Ponce EC Incidence of Smoking in Mexican Youth: cohort study in the State of Morelos: Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica de Mexico; 2006.

  26. Flegal KM, Ezzati TM, Harris MI, Haynes SG, Juarez RZ, Knowler WC et al. Prevalence of diabetes in Mexican Americans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1982–1984. Diabetes Care 1991; 14: 628–638.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Flegal KM, Ogden CL, Carroll MD . Prevalence and trends in overweight in Mexican-American adults and children. Nutr Rev 2004; 62: S144–S148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Burke JP, Williams K, Gaskill SP, Hazuda HP, Haffner SM, Stern MP . Rapid rise in the incidence of type 2 diabetes from 1987 to 1996: results from the San Antonio Heart Study. Arch Intern Med 1999; 159: 1450–1456.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Haffner SM . Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes: risk factors. Diabetes Care 1998; 21 (Suppl 3): C3–C6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Haffner SM . Obesity and the metabolic syndrome: the San Antonio Heart Study. Br J Nutr 2000; 83 (Suppl 1): S67–S70.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Lorenzo C, Williams K, Hunt KJ, Haffner SM . Trend in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its impact on cardiovascular disease incidence: the San Antonio Heart Study. Diabetes Care 2006; 29: 625–630.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Mitchell BD, Almasy LA, Rainwater DL, Schneider JL, Blangero J, Stern MP et al. Diabetes and hypertension in Mexican American families: relation to cardiovascular risk. Am J Epidemiol 1999; 149: 1047–1056.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Sundquist J, Winkleby MA . Cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican American adults: a transcultural analysis of NHANES III, 1988–1994. Am J Public Health 1999; 89: 723–730.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Sundquist J, Winkleby MA, Pudaric S . Cardiovascular disease risk factors among older black, Mexican-American, and white women and men: an analysis of NHANES III, 1988–1994. Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. J Am Geriatr Soc 2001; 49: 109–116.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Williamson DF . Descriptive epidemiology of body weight and weight change in US adults. Ann Intern Med 1993; 119: 646–649.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Williamson DF . Weight change in middle-aged Americans. Am J Prev Med 2004; 27: 81–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Mendez MA, Cooper R, Wilks R, Luke A, Forrester T . Income, education, and blood pressure in adults in Jamaica, a middle-income developing country. Int J Epidemiol 2003; 32: 400–408.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The sixth report of the Joint National Committee on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure. Arch Intern Med 1997; 157: 2413–2446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Lenfant C . Reflections on hypertension control rates: a message from the director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Arch Intern Med 2002; 162: 131–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Hajjar I, Kotchen TA . Trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the United States, 1988–2000. JAMA 2003; 290: 199–206.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Kjeldsen SE, Erdine S, Farsang C, Sleight P, Mancia G . 1999 WHO/ISH Hypertension Guidelines—highlights & ESH update. J Hypertens 2002; 20: 153–155.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Reddy KS . Hypertension control in developing countries: generic issues. J Hum Hypertens 1996; 10 (Suppl 1): S33–S38.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Benfante R . Studies of cardiovascular disease and cause-specific mortality trends in Japanese-American men living in Hawaii and risk factor comparisons with other Japanese populations in the Pacific region: a review. Hum Biol 1992; 64: 791–805.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Labarthe D . Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases: A Global Challenge. Aspen Publications: Gaithersberg, MD, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Wild SH, Fischbacher C, Brock A, Griffiths C, Bhopal R . Mortality from all causes and circulatory disease by country of birth in England and Wales 2001–2003. J Public Health (Oxf) 2007; 29: 191–198.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Wild S, McKeigue P . Cross sectional analysis of mortality by country of birth in England and Wales, 1970–92. BMJ 1997; 314: 705–710.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Pudaric S, Sundquist J, Johansson SE . Major risk factors for cardiovascular disease in elderly migrants in Sweden. Ethn Health 2000; 5: 137–150.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Pudaric S, Sundquist J, Johansson SE . Country of birth, instrumental activities of daily living, self-rated health and mortality: a Swedish population-based survey of people aged 55–74. Soc Sci Med 2003; 56: 2493–2503.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Goel MS, McCarthy EP, Phillips RS, Wee CC . Obesity among US immigrant subgroups by duration of residence. JAMA 2004; 292: 2860–2867.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Koya DL, Egede LE . Association between length of residence and cardiovascular disease risk factors among an ethnically diverse group of United States immigrants. J Gen Intern Med 2007; 22: 841–846.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Stephen EH, Foote K, Hendershot GE, Schoenborn CA . Health of the foreign-born population: United States, 1989–90. Adv Data 1994; 241: 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Singh GK, Siahpush M . All-cause and cause-specific mortality of immigrants and native born in the United States. Am J Public Health 2001; 91: 392–399.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Singh GK, Siahpush M . Ethnic-immigrant differentials in health behaviors, morbidity, and cause-specific mortality in the United States: an analysis of two national data bases. Hum Biol 2002; 74: 83–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Barcenas CH, Wilkinson AV, Strom SS, Cao Y, Saunders KC, Mahabir S et al. Birthplace, years of residence in the United States, and obesity among Mexican-American adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2007; 15: 1043–1052.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Huh J, Prause JA, Dooley CD . The impact of nativity on chronic diseases, self-rated health and comorbidity status of Asian and Hispanic immigrants. J Immigr Minor Health 2007; doi: 10.1007/s10903-007-9065-7. Accessed February 14, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Sundquist J, Winkleby M . Country of birth, acculturation status and abdominal obesity in a national sample of Mexican-American women and men. Int J Epidemiol 2000; 29: 470–477.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Wilkinson AV, Spitz MR, Strom SS, Prokhorov AV, Barcenas CH, Cao Y et al. Effects of nativity, age at migration, and acculturation on smoking among adult Houston residents of Mexican descent. Am J Public Health 2005; 95: 1043–1049.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Primatesta P, Poulter NR . Improvement in hypertension management in England: results from the Health Survey for England 2003. J Hypertens 2006; 24: 1187–1192.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the NHLBI (HL45508) and by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) (37194-M).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

    S Barquera

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA

    R A Durazo-Arvizu, A Luke, G Cao & R S Cooper

Authors
  1. S Barquera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R A Durazo-Arvizu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Luke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. G Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R S Cooper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R A Durazo-Arvizu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barquera, S., Durazo-Arvizu, R., Luke, A. et al. Hypertension in Mexico and among Mexican Americans: prevalence and treatment patterns. J Hum Hypertens 22, 617–626 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.9

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links