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Abstract Background The Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2023, presented by the Korean Society of Hypertension, offers an overview of the prevalence and management of hypertension, along with recent trends. Methods Data for the Fact Sheet were derived from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey spanning 1998 to 2021, and the National Health Insurance Big Data from 2002 to 2021. Results As of 2021, hypertension affected 28.0% of Korean adults aged 20 and older, totaling approximately 12.3 million individuals, with 5.3 million (43.5%) aged 65 or older. Among those with hypertension, awareness stood at 74.1%, treatment rates at 70.3%, and control rates at 56.0%. Over the years, the number of hypertension diagnoses increased from 3.0 million in 2002 to 11.1 million in 2021. During the same period, the utilization of antihypertensive medications rose from 2.5 million to 10.5 million, with treatment adherence also improving from 0.6 million to 7.8 million individuals. In 2021, the predominant antihypertensive drug class was angiotensin receptor blockers (75.1%), followed by calcium channel blockers (61.7%), diuretics (23.4%), and beta blockers (15.3%). Notably, 60.2% of all antihypertensive prescriptions involved combination therapy with at least two classes of antihypertensive medication. There was a positive trend towards stricter blood pressure control targets (systolic/diastolic blood pressure

Rebar embedded inside reinforced concrete structures becomes corroded due to various factors. However, few studies have focused on the corrosion of pre-rusted rebar embedded in cement composites, and the findings reported thus far are inconsistent. Therefore, in this study, an experimental program was undertaken to examine the effect of pre-rusting on the further corrosion of reinforcements in cement composites. Pre-rust was induced using two different solutions (CaCl2 and HCl). The corrosion rate in the cement composite was analyzed using the half-cell potential and polarization resistance methods. In addition, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis were used to examine the morphology of the rust. The results show that the corrosion rate of the rebar embedded in the cement composite can be increased by more than 3.8 times depending on the pre-rust conditions (RE: 0.0009 mm/year, HCl: 0.0035 mm/year). In addition, we found that the corrosion products in the pre-rusted layer were comparable to those of the rebar corroded in the marine atmosphere.