• Alem Mehari, Orlando Valle, and Richard F Gillum.
• Department of Medicine, Howard University, 2041 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20060, USA.
• Pulm Med. 2014 Jan 1;2014:105864.

ContextFew reports have been published regarding surveillance data for pulmonary hypertension, a debilitating and often fatal condition.AimsWe report trends in pulmonary hypertension.Settings And DesignUnited States of America; vital statistics, hospital data.Methods And MaterialWe used mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) for 1999-2008 and hospital discharge data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) for 1999-2009.Statistical Analysis UsedWe present age-standardized rates. Results. Since 1999, the numbers of deaths and hospitalizations as well as death rates and hospitalization rates for pulmonary hypertension have increased. In 1999 death rates were higher for men than for women; however, by 2002, no differences by gender remained because of the increasing death rates among women and the declining death rates among men; after 2003 death rates for women were higher than for men. Death rates throughout the reporting period 1999-2008 were higher for blacks than for whites. Hospitalization rates in women were 1.3-1.6 times higher than in men.ConclusionsPulmonary hypertension mortality and hospitalization numbers and rates increased from 1999 to 2008.

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