1-in-5 adults ages 24-32 have hypertension

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 26 (UPI) -- Nineteen percent of U.S. adults ages 24-32 have hypertension -- a blood pressure reading of 140/90 millimeters of mercury or more -- researchers found.

Lead author Quynh Nguyen -- a doctoral student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health -- and colleagues analyzed data on more than 14,000 men and women ages 24-32 in 2008 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The study, published at the journal Epidemiology, found only about half of the participants with elevated blood pressure had ever been told by a healthcare provider that they had the condition.

"The findings are significant because they indicate that many young adults are at risk of developing heart disease, but are unaware that they have hypertension," Nguyen says in a statement. "Young adults and the medical professionals they visit shouldn't assume they're not old enough to have high blood pressure. This is a condition that leads to chronic illness, premature death and costly medical treatment."