Health and Economic Benefits of High Blood Pressure Interventions

At a glance

  • Half of US adults have high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
  • It is one of our nation's costliest health conditions.
  • CDC supports the use of team-based care and community health workers to help people manage their blood pressure.
Person measuring blood pressure with home blood pressure monitoring device

High blood pressure in the United States

High blood pressure is a common and dangerous condition and a key risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It is defined as having a blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg or higher. Healthy lifestyle behaviors—like eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in sodium and being physically active—can help prevent and control high blood pressure.

Quick facts

  • Nearly half of US adults (119.9 million) have high blood pressure, and most of them (92 million) may need to change both their lifestyle and take prescription medicine.1
  • Only 1 in 4 US adults with high blood pressure (27 million) have it under control (defined as blood pressure less than 130/80 mm Hg).1
  • High blood pressure rates vary by race and ethnicity. Over half (58%) of non-Hispanic Black adults, 49% of non-Hispanic White adults, 45% of non-Hispanic Asian adults, and 37% of Hispanic adults in the United States have high blood pressure.2
  • 83% of non-Hispanic Black adults, 75% of non-Hispanic White adults, 82% of non-Hispanic Asian adults, and 83% of Hispanic adults with high blood pressure do not have it under control.2
  • In 2021, hypertension was a primary or contributing cause of 691,095 deaths in the United States.3

The high cost of high blood pressure

Annual costs associated with high blood pressure are $79 billion.4A Because high blood pressure affects so many Americans and is a key risk factor for heart disease and stroke, it is one of our nation's costliest health conditions:

  • Annual medical costs for people with high blood pressure are up to $2,500A higher than costs for people without high blood pressure.56
  • About 650 million prescriptions for blood pressure medicine are filled each year. This accounts for about $29 billionB in total spending, of which $3.4 billion is paid directly by patients.7

Strategies that work

CDC supports state, local, tribal, and territorial heart disease and stroke prevention programs that help millions of Americans control their high blood pressure and reduce other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The agency promotes strategies and policies that encourage healthy lifestyles and behaviors, healthy environments and communities, and access to early and affordable detection and treatment of high blood pressure. These strategies help save lives and reduce health care costs. They include:

  • Expanding the use of team-based care, which means health care providers work with pharmacists, community health workers, and other health professionals to manage patients' high blood pressure.89
  • Increasing the use of community health workers to connect people with the services and lifestyle programs they need to reduce their blood pressure.10
  • Increasing the use of self-measured blood pressure monitoring, where people with high blood pressure check their own blood pressure regularly and share this information with their health care provider.1112

Improvements in high blood pressure control or further reductions in the number of people with high blood pressure could generate billions in health care cost savings every year. For example:

  • Using team-based care that includes a pharmacist could prevent up to 91,900 heart attacks, 139,000 strokes, and 115,400 cardiovascular deaths over 5 years among US adults with uncontrolled high blood pressure. Medicare could save up to $900 million over 5 years with this intervention.9
  • Reducing average population sodium intake to 2,300 mg a day (the recommended maximum for adults) may reduce cases of high blood pressure by 22%, saving 252,000 lives and $37 billion in health care costs over 10 years.13

For more information about strategies to prevent heart disease and stroke, see Best Practices for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Programs and Hypertension Control Change Package for Clinicians.

Benefits of using proven strategies

Many effective strategies to manage high blood pressure are a good value in terms of cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained.* For example:

  • Team-based care to improve blood pressure control has a median cost of $15,202C per QALY gained.7
  • The use of community health workers, especially as part of a team, has a median estimated cost of $17,670D per QALY gained.9
  • When used with other approaches, self-measured blood pressure monitoring has a median cost of $2,800 to $10,800B per QALY gained.10

* Public health interventions that cost less than $50,000 per QALY are widely considered cost-effective.

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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)
  1. Costs measured in 2014 and 2016 US dollars. Older cost estimates are likely to be underestimates.
  2. Costs measured in 2014 US dollars. Older cost estimates are likely to be underestimates.
  3. Costs measured in 2020 US dollars.
  4. Costs measured in 2015 US dollars. Older cost estimates are likely to be underestimates.
  1. Million Hearts. Estimated hypertension prevalence, treatment and control among U.S. adults. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 12, 2023. Accessed November 14, 2023. https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/data-reports/hypertension-prevalence.html
  2. Million Hearts. Estimated hypertension prevalence, treatment, and control among US adults: tables. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed November 20, 2023. https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/files/Estimated-Hypertension-Prevalence-tables-508.pdf
  3. Facts about hypertension. Centers for disease Control and Prevention. July 6, 2023. Accessed November 20, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
  4. Dieleman JL, Cao J, Chapin A, et al. US health care spending by paer and health condition, 1996-2016. JAMA. 2020;323(9):863–884. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.0734
  5. Wang G, Zhou X, Zhuo X, Zhang P. Annual total medical expenditures associated with hypertension by diabetes status in US adults. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(6 suppl 2):S182–S189.
  6. Kirkland EB, Heincelman M, Bishu KG, et al. Trends in healthcare expenditures among US adults with hypertension: national estimates, 2003–2014. J Am Heart Assoc. 2018;7(11).pii: e008731
  7. Ritchey M, Tsipas S, Loustalot F, Wozniak G. Use of pharmacy sales data to assess changes in prescription- and payment-related factors that promote adherence to medications commonly used to treat hypertension, 2009 and 2014. PLoS One. 2016;11(7):e0159366.
  8. Community Preventive Services Task Force. Cardiovascular disease prevention and control: team-based care to improve blood pressure control. Accessed November 15, 2023. https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/heart-disease-stroke-prevention-team-based-care-improve-blood-pressure-control.html
  9. Overwyk KJ, Dehmer SP, Roy K, et al. Modeling the health and budgetary impacts of a team-based hypertension care intervention that includes pharmacists. Med Care. 2019;57(11):882–889.
  10. Community Preventive Services Task Force. Cardiovascular disease prevention and control: interventions engaging community health workers. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.thecommunityguide.org/news/engaging-community-health-workers-recommended-prevent-cardiovascular-disease.html
  11. Community Preventive Services Task Force. Cardiovascular disease prevention and control: self-measured blood pressure monitoring interventions for improved blood pressure control—when combined with additional support. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/heart-disease-stroke-prevention-self-measured-blood-pressure-with-additional-support.html
  12. Arrieta A, Woods J, Qiao N, Jay S. Cost-benefit analysis of home blood pressure monitoring in hypertension diagnosis and treatment: an insurer perspective. Hypertension. 2014;64:891–896.
  13. Dehmer SP, Cogswell ME, Ritchey MD, et al. Health and budgetary impact of achieving 10-Year U.S. sodium reduction targets. Am J Prev Med. 2020;59(2):211–218.