Young men living alone at high risk of hypertension – study

The risk of high blood pressure among South Koreans in their 20s and 30s has risen significantly in recent years, with the increase especially pronounced among young men living alone, according to a state-funded study.

National Health Insurance Service data showed Sunday that the prevalence of hypertension among young adults aged 20 to 39 stood at 18 per 1,000 people in 2023, up from 10.7 per 1,000 in 2015.

The prevalence rate among young Koreans living with family members rose from 10.1 to 16.7 per 1,000 over the same period, while the figure for single-person households increased from 14.6 to 22.8 per 1,000.

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It was found that the hypertension prevalence rate young people living alone was always higher than those that for people living with family members, in every year from 2015 to 2023.

Researchers from Daejeon Metropolitan City Public Health Policy Institute and the Chungnam National University compiled the NHIS data and conducted the research.

The disparity linked to household composition was due mainly to the fact that more men living alone were susceptible to high blood pressure than their counterparts living with other people. Around 33.3 people per 1,000 young Koreans living alone suffered from hypertension in 2023, compared to 24.6 among those living with others.

This marked a stark contrast with the female groups, which showed only slight disparity in hypertension prevalence between those living alone (9 per 1,000) and those living with others (8.6).

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The findings also indicated that the high blood pressure risk was closely related to age. Only 6.1 per 1,000 suffered high blood pressure among 20-somethings living alone, and 6.8 had the disease among 20-somethings living in multi-person households.

READ: WHO: 33 percent of Filipino adults have high blood pressure

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But the figure greatly increased to 39.4 and 26.5 per 1,000, each for 30-somethings living alone and living with others.

“The results show that increase in prevalence rate due to age is particularly steep among single-person households. This indicates that men in their 30s living alone is the main high-risk group in terms of hypertension in the youth population, and is vulnerable group that requires active intervention,” researchers said.

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Researchers analyzed various factors linked to high blood pressure and speculated that men were 3.1 times more likely than women to suffer hypertension, while those in their 30s were 2.17 times more likely than 20-somethings to have the disease. Other significant factors. Based on a single factor, diabetes raised prevalence risk by 5.11 times and heavy drinking raised it by 1.7 times. /dl