Paul Muntner

BACKGROUND The prevalence of many chronic conditions has increased among US adults. Many adults with hypertension have other chronic conditions. METHODS We estimated changes in the age-adjusted prevalence of multiple (≥3) chronic conditions, not including hypertension, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, from 1999–2000 to 2017–2020, among US adults with (n = 24,851) and without (n = 24,337 hypertension. Hypertension included systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥130 mm Hg, diastolic BP ≥80 mm Hg, or antihypertensive medication use. We studied 14 chronic conditions: arthritis, asthma, cancer, coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease, depression, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, heart failure, lung disease, obesity, and stroke. RESULTS From 1999–2000 to 2017–2020, the age-adjusted mean number of chronic conditions increased more among US adults with vs. without hypertension (2.2 to 2.8 vs. 1.7 to 2.0; P-interaction <0.001). Also, the age-adjusted prevalence of multiple chronic conditions increased from 39.0% to 52.0% among US adults with hypertension and from 26.0% to 30.0% among US adults without hypertension (P-interaction = 0.022). In 2017–2020, after age, gender, and race/ethnicity adjustment, US adults with hypertension were 1.94 (95% confidence interval: 1.72–2.18) times as likely to have multiple chronic conditions compared to those without hypertension. In 2017–2020, dyslipidemia, obesity, and arthritis were the most common 3 co-occurring chronic conditions among US adults with and without hypertension (age-adjusted prevalence 16.5% and 3.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS In 2017–2020, more than half of US adults with hypertension had ≥3 additional chronic conditions, a substantial increase from 20 years ago.