Fig. 1

Flow chart of the study population, 2986 US adults aged 19 and older with hypertension, NHANES 1991–2010. NDI National Death Index, NHANES the National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey. ¹Blood pressure (BP) was measured three times in the mobile examination center (in home if not able to make a trip to a mobile examination center), with the participant seated, and using an appropriate cuff size. All available measurements from an individual were averaged to obtain the BP value used in the analyses. Hypertension was defined as present if a participant reported both ever being told that she or he had high BP and current use of antihypertensive medications, or if the average measured BP was ≥140mmHg systolic or ≥90mmHg diastolic, the clinical definition of hypertension used when NHANES III was conducted