Objective  To examine the prevalence of hypertension and its changing trend in elderly population in China and to explore the influence of hypertension on life expectancy of the population.

  Methods  The data of the retrospective study were extracted from 3 waves of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted in 2008, 2011, and 2014 and the participants at the baseline survey in 2008 were 16 954 community residents aged 65 – 105 years. Multi-state life table method was adopted to analyze the prevalence of hypertension at surveys and to predict the prevalence rate in 2014 – 2030 in the elderly with IMaCH software.

  Results  Among the participants, the prevalence of hypertension was 19.34%, 21.93%, and 19.96% at the survey in 2008, 2011, and 2014, respectively. The probability of hypertension decreased gradually with the increment of age. For all the participants, a low-high-low distribution pattern was observed in the age-specific hypertension prevalence rate, with a "inflection point" at the age of 90-year for the probability of transition from hypertension to normal blood pressure. Before the age of 90, the hypertension prevalence rate was lower, but higher after the age of 90, among the female than the male participants. The influence of hypertension on the life expectancy decreased with age, with the strongest impact in the participants aged 65 – 69 years; for the 65 – 69 years old participants, the life expectancy of the hypertensives was 51.7% of that for all the participants, with the life expectancy of 8.14 ± 0.33 and 10.11 ± 0.37 years for the male and female hypertensives, which were 49.4% and 53.9% of that for all the male and female participants, respectively. A trend of increase in hypertension prevalence during the period from 2014 to 2030 was predicted among the elderly population and based on the prediction, the hypertension prevalence would increase to about 50% among the elderly aged 65 – 69 years and the prevalence would be more higher in the female elderly than in the male elderly of the age group.

  Conclusion  The influence of hypertension on the life expectancy in female elderly is greater than that in male elderly. The prevalence of hypertension would increase in the elderly population in China, especially in female elderly population, during the next decade.