Trends in Blood Pressure, Hypertension Control, and Stroke Mortality: The Minnesota Heart Survey

The study’s objective was to determine population trends in blood pressure, hypertension prevalence, hypertension control, and stroke mortality. We performed population-based surveys of 2906 to 5630 adults from 1980 to 1982, 1985 to 1987, 1990 to 1992, 1995 to 1997, and 2000 to 2002, and stroke mortality from 1980 to 2002, in the Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn metropolitan area (2.63 million population according to the 2000 census). Randomly selected resident adults aged 25 to 74 years (n = 21 773) were each screened once. The main outcome measures were standardized measures of blood pressure, treatment and control of hypertension, and stroke mortality rates. The mean systolic blood pressure adjusted for age decreased in men (−1.5 mm Hg [95% confidence interval −0.3 to −2.7], P