Socioeconomic Determinants of Hypertension and Its Control: Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) from 1988 through 1994. The NHANES III was designed to estimate the prevalence of common chronic conditions and associated risk factors for a representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. The NHANES III component on adult blood pressure was designed to provide estimates of the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the general population and in the non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Mexican American population subgroups. Persons ages 60 years and older were oversampled to improve the precision of estimates in this age group. Data from the first three years of the NHANES III survey will be presented. The NHANES survey includes data on socioeconomic status. Education and income data was collected on all participants. Other related data that may impact on the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension such as occupation and health insurance coverage will be presented.