High Blood Pressure (%)
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and heart failure.1 Yet many people with high blood pressure are unaware that they have it.2 Regular screening and adoption of the healthy behaviors reflected by the Women’s Health Report Card prevention indicators (including exercise, consuming sufficient fruits and vegetables, and not smoking) are key to reducing the proportion of women with high blood pressure.3
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing the percentage of people with high blood pressure to no more than 16 percent (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 12-9].
| State | State Overall Data | State Grade | State Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 36.6 | F | 50 |
| Alaska | 25.1 | U | 12 |
| Arizona | 24.2 | U | 5 |
| Arkansas | 32.4 | F | 44 |
| California | 24.7 | U | 8 |
| Colorado | 20.7 | S- | 2 |
| Connecticut | 25.9 | U | 19 |
| Delaware | 27.5 | F | 24 |
| District of Columbia | 27.2 | F | 21 |
| Florida | 29.4 | F | 34 |
| Georgia | 30.2 | F | 39 |
| Hawaii | 30.1 | F | 37 |
| Idaho | 24.2 | U | 5 |
| Illinois | 28.1 | F | 27 |
| Indiana | 29.6 | F | 36 |
| Iowa | 27.2 | F | 21 |
| Kansas | 28.4 | F | 29 |
| Kentucky | 34.8 | F | 47 |
| Louisiana | 35.5 | F | 48 |
| Maine | 28.7 | F | 33 |
| Maryland | 28.2 | F | 28 |
| Massachusetts | 24.7 | U | 8 |
| Michigan | 27.8 | F | 26 |
| Minnesota | 21.0 | S- | 3 |
| Mississippi | 38.9 | F | 51 |
| Missouri | 30.1 | F | 37 |
| Montana | 25.7 | U | 15 |
| Nebraska | 25.3 | U | 14 |
| Nevada | 25.2 | U | 13 |
| New Hampshire | 26.1 | U | 20 |
| New Jersey | 27.2 | F | 21 |
| New Mexico | 24.9 | U | 11 |
| New York | 27.6 | F | 25 |
| North Carolina | 31.4 | F | 42 |
| North Dakota | 25.8 | U | 16 |
| Ohio | 30.4 | F | 40 |
| Oklahoma | 33.8 | F | 46 |
| Oregon | 24.7 | U | 8 |
| Pennsylvania | 30.6 | F | 41 |
| Rhode Island | 28.6 | F | 30 |
| South Carolina | 31.7 | F | 43 |
| South Dakota | 28.6 | F | 30 |
| Tennessee | 33.5 | F | 45 |
| Texas | 29.4 | F | 34 |
| Utah | 20.3 | S- | 1 |
| Vermont | 24.4 | U | 7 |
| Virginia | 25.8 | U | 16 |
| Washington | 25.8 | U | 16 |
| West Virginia | 36.3 | F | 49 |
| Wisconsin | 28.6 | F | 30 |
| Wyoming | 23.7 | U | 4 |
Data Source: High Blood Pressure (%), 2009.
EXPLANATION: This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who reported having ever been told by a health care professional that they have high blood pressure.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2009, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health and Science, Office on Women’s Health. Quick Health Data Online, 2010, Washington, DC, 2010, available at http://www.womenshealth.gov/quickhealthdata. The national overall number and national data by age are the median of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for race/ethnicity and age are two-year averages from 2007 and 2009 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population.
1 National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2009, (Hyattsville: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, 2009), 90, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus09.pdf
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “High Blood Pressure,” (Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May, 2010), available at http://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “How to Prevent High Blood Pressure,” (Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February, 2010), available at http://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/what_you_can_do.htm
