The prevalence of hypertension in multiple sclerosis based on 37 million electronic health records from the United States.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Hypertension (HTN) is a common comorbidity in multiple sclerosis (MS), and it significantly contributes to adverse outcomes. Unfortunately, the distribution of HTN in persons with MS has not been well characterized, and prior estimates have primarily relied on modest sample sizes. The objective of this study was to robustly describe the distribution of HTN in the MS population in comparison to the non-MS population with considerations for age, sex, and race. To date, this is the largest investigation of its kind.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 37 million unique electronic health records available in the IBM Explorys Enterprise Performance Management: Explore database (Explorys) spanning the United States. This resource has previously been validated for use in MS. We evaluated the prevalence of HTN in MS (N = 122 660) and non-MS (N = 37 075 350) cohorts, stratifying by age, sex, and race.


RESULTS
The prevalence of HTN was significantly greater among those with MS than among those without MS across age, sex, and race subpopulations, even after adjusting for age and sex. HTN was 25% more common in MS. In both MS and non-MS cohorts, the prevalence of HTN progressively increased with age and was higher in Black Americans and in males.


DISCUSSION
This study demonstrated that HTN is significantly more common in the MS population compared to the non-MS population, irrespective of sex and race. Because HTN is the leading global risk factor for disability and death, these results emphasize the need for aggressive screening for, and management of, HTN in the MS population.
['Briggs|F B S|FBS|0000-0003-0903-1359', 'Hill|E|E|0000-0002-3455-0874', 'Abboud|H|H|0000-0001-5346-8254']
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D057286:Electronic Health Records D006801:Humans D006973:Hypertension D008297:Male D009103:Multiple Sclerosis D015995:Prevalence D012307:Risk Factors D014481:United States
prevalence hypertension multiple sclerosis comorbidity epidemiology race differences