Arterial hypertension-attributable mortality in Europe, 2012-2021

Comprehensive and updated assessments of arterial hypertension (HTN)-attributable mortality trends across Europe are limited. We evaluated the HTN-attributed mortality trends in Europe between 2012 and 2021, examining variations by age, sex, and European region.

We extracted heart failure-attributed mortality data from the WHO mortality dataset for 2012-2021. Age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) were analyzed using joinpoint regression modeling, expressed as average annual percentage change (AAPC) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A parallelism test compared trend differences across groups.

From 2012 to 2021, 1 658 592 individuals (773 129 men and 885 463 women) died due to HTN, equating to 3932.3 deaths per 100 000 population. Overall, the AAMR increased (AAPC: +1.6%; 95% CI: 1.2-2.1; P  < 0.001), without significant differences between sexes ( P for parallelism 0.38). HTN-attributable mortality trend had a higher increase among patients aged 70 or older compared to those aged less than 70 years ( P for parallelism 0.007). Regionally, AAMRs increase in Northern (AAPC: +0.7%; 95% CI: 0.1-1.3; P  = 0.002) and Eastern (AAPC: +2.79%; 95% CI: 1.8-3.6; P  < 0.001) while plateaued in Western and Southern Europe (AAPC: -0.5%; 95% CI: -1.2 to 10.2; P  = 0.09). Disparities in hypertension-attributable mortality were observed among countries.

HTN-attributed mortality in Europe increased between 2012 and 2021. Substantial disparities persist across European regions and countries.