ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention
This article is part of the Research TopicEnvironmental Determinants of Cardiovascular Health: Interactions with Lifestyle and Socioeconomic FactorsView all 14 articles
Profiling Individuals Living with Hypertension in Saudi Arabia 2021: A Nationwide Descriptive Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Health Informatics, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- 2Informed Decision-Making for Research and Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 3College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 4Sharik Association for Research and Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Background: Hypertension is a major global health challenge affecting 1.3 billion adults, increasing risks of cardiovascular diseases, strokes, and kidney failure. Using data from a nationally representative surveillance system in Saudi Arabia, this study profiles adults living with treated or aware hypertension versus the rest of the population and examines co-occurring sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical factors in 2021. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2021 Sharik Health Indicators Surveillance System (SHISS), a nationwide cross-sectional phone survey employing proportional quota sampling across all 13 regions (n = 14,007; response rate = 68.3%). Hypertension status was defined as self-reported physician diagnosis with current treatment; blood pressure was not directly measured, and the survey relied entirely on self-report. Weighted descriptive statistics summarized prevalence, and multivariable logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (AORs, 95% CIs) for factors associated with hypertension. The mean participant age was 36.7 ± 13.7 years. Results: Overall, 12.3% of respondents reported treated/aware hypertension. Among these, common comorbidities included hypercholesterolemia (47.9%), diabetes (42.8%), overweight/obesity (75.2%), heart disease (20.2%), and elevated depression risk (23.8%). In adjusted models, higher age (AOR 1.06 per year, 95% CI 1.05–1.06), education below bachelor's (AOR 1.31, 1.14–1.50), smoking (daily AOR 1.23, 1.03–1.48; occasional AOR 1.64, 1.28–2.08), overweight (AOR 1.93, 1.20– 3.11), and obesity (AOR 2.53, 1.57–4.08) were significantly associated with hypertension. Strong associations were also observed with hypercholesterolemia (AOR 4.09, 3.56–4.71), heart disease (AOR 3.54, 2.84–4.42), and diabetes (AOR 2.64, 2.28–3.05). Conclusions: Adults aware of and treated for hypertension in Saudi Arabia exhibit a high burden of This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article behavioral risks and multimorbidity. These findings can guide targeted primary care screening, integrated chronic disease management, and population-level risk reduction programs (e.g., smoking cessation, weight control), with priority to older adults, individuals with lower educational attainment, and those with co-existing diabetes or dyslipidemia.
Keywords: Hypertension, Sociodemographic determinants, comorbidities, Cardiovascularrisk, public health strategies
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Senitan, Althumiri, Alkhamaali, Shaman and Bindhim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohammed Senitan
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