Young men living alone most vulnerable to high blood pressure, study finds
The number of young men living alone with hypertension stood at 33.3 per 1,000 people in 2023, higher than the average of 22.8 for those aged 20 to 39 living alone.
Visitors get their blood pressure taken at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on March 20, 2025.YONHAP
Can loneliness actually hurt you? Hypertension among young Koreans has steadily increased over the past eight years, with men in their 30s living alone identified as the group most vulnerable to poor blood pressure management.
A research team from the Daejeon Metropolitan City Public Health Policy Institute and Chungnam National University published the findings in the Health and Social Welfare Review, a journal published by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, on Sunday.
The study analyzed National Health Insurance Service data on people aged 20 to 39 who were diagnosed with hypertension — more commonly known as high blood pressure — between 2015 and 2023.
The number of young adults with high blood pressure rose from 10.7 per 1,000 people in 2015 to 18 per 1,000 people in 2023.
Those living alone had a higher hypertension rate throughout the period.
Among young people living alone, the figure rose from 14.6 to 22.8 per 1,000 people. Meanwhile, it increased only from 10.1 to 16.7 for those living in multiperson households.
There was also a clear gender gap.
In 2023, the number of young men living alone with hypertension stood at 33.3 per 1,000 people, far higher than the 24.6 for young men in multiperson households. Among young women, the gap was minimal at 9 per 1,000 for those living alone and 8.6 for those in multiperson households.
Pedestrians walk the streets of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on April 15.YONHAP
Age made a significant difference as well.
Among adults in their 20s, hypertension affected 6.8 per 1,000 people living alone and 6.1 of those in multiperson households. For adults in their 30s, those figures jumped to 39.4 and 26.5, respectively — 5.8 times higher for the former and 4.3 times higher for the latter.
"This shows that men in their 30s who live alone are at high risk for hypertension compared to other young adults and a key vulnerable group that requires focused intervention," the research team said.
The study also found that young men living alone were 3.1 times more likely than young women living alone to have high blood pressure. Regarding age, people in their 30s were 2.17 times more likely than those in their 20s to have hypertension.
Crates of alcoholic drinks are stacked near a restaurant in Jung District, central Seoul, on Aug. 18, 2025.YONHAP
Additionally, young high-risk drinkers were 1.7 times more likely to have hypertension than young adults not under that classification. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency defines high-risk drinkers as men who consume seven or more drinks or women who consume five or more drinks per occasion at least twice per week.
Those with obesity or diagnosed with diabetes were 3.87 times and 5.11 times more likely, respectively, to have hypertension than people of normal weights or without diabetes.
"Single-person households should be considered a priority when establishing policies to prevent chronic diseases among young adults," the research team said. "Young men living alone, in particular, need community-based health management support and policy intervention to address […] drinking and smoking."
The research team emphasized that managing hypertension among young adults requires a tailored approach that reflects their household characteristics.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
