JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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The population of a community of 29,608 adults was screened door-to-door for elevated blood pressure. Of 12,371 adults screened, 20% were classified as hypertensive. After repeated blood-pressure measurement, however, there were only 9% with sustained hypertension, while 11% had labile hypertension. ⋯ In contrast, sustained hypertension was least prevalent in the young and increased with age. Labile hypertension was most prevalent in white men, and sustained hypertension was more prevalent in blacks than in whites. Labile hypertension represents a large segment (52%) of the population initially identified as having hypertension in a home blood-pressure survey.