A new analysis showed that rates of uncontrolled hypertension appear to be reaching a plateau for men and have increased for women.

One in four women has high blood pressure in Washington, D.C. and many southern states despite the well-established lifestyle and low-cost, off-patent pharmaceutical options available for controlling hypertension.

The incidence of uncontrolled high blood pressure had been declining steadily for decades into the 1990s, Majid Ezzati, an associate professor of international health at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the report in the February 12 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Uncontrolled hypertension in this study was defined as above 140 millimeters of mercury.

The decline has continued for American men, with the rate dropping from 19 percent to 17 percent in the early 2000s. The rates stand differently when it comes about American women; the incidence in their case increased from 18 percent to more than 21 percent during that same period.

“The prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension among men in these states hovers between 18 percent and 21 percent. And about a quarter of adult women in these states (24 percent to 26 percent) have uncontrolled hypertension,” Ezzati said.

The states with lower hypertension prevalence rates are Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado. They have rates between 15 percent and 16 percent for men and about 21 percent for women.

“We also found that in every state in the United States women have higher uncontrolled hypertension prevalence rates than men do. The difference between men and women is as low as 4 percent and as high as 7 percent,” he said.

Dr. Dan Jones, president of the American Heart Association blames the health-care delivery system for the persistent incidence of hypertension.

“Certainly physicians have some fault, patients have some fault, and biology plays a role. But in our current health-care system, high blood pressure is treated as part of a visit with a primary-care physician that may take only five to 15 minutes. It may be one of five or six problems that the patient has and may be the least symptomatic of those problems, so it doesn't get the attention it should,” Jones said quoted by Forbes.

Jones also says that patients who have this problem and are prescribed drugs need to take the medicine on a regular basis, but they simply fail to do so. In addition, lowering salt intake, more exercising and lower weight should be effective in treating hypertension.