Isabella Hornick , 2025-04-28 11:38:00
April 28, 2025
2 min read
Key takeaways:
- Researchers reported a global PAH prevalence estimate of 192,000 cases in 2021, with females behind a higher number of cases vs. males.
- As individuals grew older, PAH prevalence went up.
In 2021, a greater number of global pulmonary arterial hypertension cases occurred in females vs. males, and disease prevalence reached its highest point at age 75 to 79 years, according to data published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
“Greater understanding of global epidemiology can direct resources and research towards locations, sexes and age groups most in need, and could identify emerging exposures that might cause PAH in the future,” Peter J. Leary, MD, PhD, director of the pulmonary vascular disease program at the University of Washington Medical Center, and colleagues wrote.
Data were derived from GBD 2021 Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Collaborators, et al. Lancet Respir Med. 2024;doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(24)00295-9.
In this systematic analysis, Leary and colleagues evaluated 204 countries and territories to determine the burden of PAH between 1990 and 2021 on a global scale via epidemiological and vital registry data on PAH.
As Healio previously reported, among adults with PAH, patient characteristics, mortality and treatment varied across four U.S. census regions.
Researchers reported a global PAH prevalence estimate of 192,000 cases in 2021 (age-standardized, 2.28 cases per 100,000 population), with females behind a higher number of cases vs. males (119,000 cases [2.75 cases per 100,000 females] vs. 73,100 cases [1.78 cases per 100,000 males]).
Comparing the age-standardized PAH prevalences from 2021 and 1990 (2.3 cases per 100,000 population) revealed little change in this measure with time, researchers wrote.
As individuals grew older, the prevalence of PAH went up. According to the study, the 7.99 PAH cases per 100,000 population in those aged 75 to 79 years was the age group with the greatest prevalence.
When assessing the fatal burden of PAH, researchers observed a global PAH mortality rate of 22,000 deaths in 2021 (age-standardized, 0.27 deaths per 100,000 population), with females having a comparable number of PAH deaths to males (0.28 deaths per 100,000 females vs. 0.27 deaths per 100,000 males).
Comparing the age-standardized PAH mortality rates from 2021 and 1990 (0.35 deaths per 100,000 population) revealed improvement in this measure with time.
Based on age-standardized years of life lost (YLLs), the study noted that the most recent year assessed has shown more improvement in this measure vs. the earliest year assessed (change of 38.2%).
The global YLLs due to PAH in 2021 totaled 624,000. Notably, researchers highlighted YLLs due to chronic myeloid leukemia, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease because of their similarity to those due to PAH.
“Moving forward, ongoing attention to straightforward disease definitions, advances in testing and screening, and stronger reporting systems remain vitally important to ensure that countries are consistently capturing the same disease entity when PAH is diagnosed and approximating the full burden from this condition,” Leary and colleagues wrote.
