Hypertension's prevalence in Romania is on the rise despite the increase in awareness, treatment, and control. Possible explanations of this trend might be the increasing incidence of unhealthy lifestyle and diet, including high salt intake, and a general increase in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia.

East European countries have reported high prevalence of Arterial Hypertension (AHT). In order to investigate the data for Romania, we firstly performed a national survey—the Study for the Evaluation of Prevalence of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk in Adult Population in Romania (SEPHAR). A representative population was selected using stratified proportional sampling, including 2017 adult subjects, ≥18 years old. The general prevalence of AHT was 44,92%, higher in men (50,17%) than in women (41,11%) (P < .0001) and predominant in rural areas (49,47%) in comparison to the urban ones (41,58%) (P < .02). AHT awareness attended 44,26%, rising with age, significantly lower in men (34,58%) than in women (52,8%) (P < .0006). We have found a 38,85% proportion of treated hypertensive persons, worse for men (30,11%) then for women (46,56%) (P < .003). The rate of AHT control was 19,88%, with no significant differences between gender. In conclusion, we estimated for Romania a high prevalence of AHT, a level of awareness and treatment lower than in many European countries and a rate of treatment control at the inferior limit of the European average. Males, characterized by a higher prevalence of AHT, were also less aware and less treated than women.

Although in the last 7 years, the tendency of hypertension's prevalence seems to be a descending one with an increasing trend in awareness, treatment and control of this condition, hypertension in Romania at this time still remains an 'unsolved equation'.

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The aim of this study was to assess the basic biochemical and clinical characteristics of patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), office blood pressure (BP) and 24-h BP profile, their risk factors and associated comorbidities. Compared with non-diabetics, hypertensive patients with T2DM were older, with a longer duration of hypertension (5.9 vs. 4.7 years), greater office blood pressure and ambulatory BP values, increased incidence of multiple risk factors, target organ damage and cardiovascular disease. Biochemical data in hypertension with T2DM revealed significantly high levels of LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, micro- and macro-albuminuria and a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate. The presence of diabetes was associated with obesity, represented by a BMI ]30 kg/m2 (OR 2.08 [95% CI 1.26-3.45], p = 0.004), abdominal obesity (OR 1.85 [95% CI 1.11-3.04], p = 0.016), high LDL cholesterol (OR 2.02 [95% CI 1.22-3.35], p = 0.006) and high triglycerides (OR 1.86 [95% CI 1.11-3.11], p = 0.017).

IntroductionComparing results of representative surveys conducted in different East-European countries could contribute to a better understanding and management of cardiovascular risk factors, offering grounds for the development of health policies addressing the special needs of this high cardiovascular risk region of Europe. The aim of this paper was to describe the methodology on which the comparison between the Romanian survey SEPHAR II and the Polish survey NATPOL 2011 results is based.Material and methodsSEPHAR II, like NATPOL 2011, is a cross-sectional survey conducted on a representative sample of the adult Romanian population (18 to 80 years) and encompasses two visits with the following components: completing the study questionnaire, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements, and collection of blood and urine samples.ResultsFrom a total of 2223 subjects found at 2860 visited addresses, 2044 subjects gave written consent but only 1975 subjects had eligible data for the analysis, accounting for a response rate of 69.06%. Additionally we excluded 11 subjects who were 80 years of age (NATPOL 2011 included adult subjects up to 79 years). Therefore, the sample size included in the statistical analysis is 1964. It has similar age groups and gender structure as the Romanian population aged 18–79 years from the last census available at the moment of conducting the survey (weight adjustments for epidemiological analyses range from 0.48 to 8.7).ConclusionsSharing many similarities, the results of SEPHAR II and NATPOL 2011 surveys can be compared by a proper statistical method offering crucial information regarding cardiovascular risk factors in a high-cardiovascular risk European region.

Background: In this study, we aimed to describe the impact of MBs on atherosclerosis and survival, in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: We retrospectively studied 1920 consecutive patients who underwent conventional coronary angiography for suspected CAD. Atherosclerotic load (AL), defined as the sum of degrees of stenosis, and general atherosclerotic load (GAL), representing the sum of AL, were compared between patients with MB and a control group without MB; patients in these groups were similar in age and sex. We assessed survival at 10 years after the last enrolled patient. Results: Prevalence of MB was 3.96%, predominantly in the mid-segment of left anterior descendent artery (LAD). In the presence of MB, GAL was lower (158.1 ± 93.7 vs. 205.3 ± 117.9, p = 0.004) with a lesser AL in the proximal (30.3 ± 39.9 vs. 42.9 ± 41.1, p = 0.038) and mid-segments (8.1 ± 20.0 vs. 25.3 ± 35.9, p < 0.001) of LAD. Based on a Multinominal Logistic Regression, we found that the presence of MB on LAD (regardless of its location on this artery) is a protective factor against atherosclerotic lesions, decreasing the probability of significant stenosis, especially of those ≥70%, on the entire artery (B −1.539, OR 4660; 95% CI = 1.873–11.595, p = 0.001) and on each of its segments as well: proximal LAD (B −1.275, OR 0.280; 95% CI = 0.015–5.073; p = 0.038), mid-LAD (B −1.879, OR 6.545; 95% CI = 1.492–28.712; p = 0.013) and distal LAD (B −0.900, OR 2.459, 95% CI = 2.459–2.459, p = 0.032). However, 10-year survival was similar between groups (76.70% vs. 74.30%, p = 0.740). Conclusion: The presence of MB on LAD proved to be a protective factor against atherosclerosis for the entire artery and for each of its segments, but it does not influence long-term survival in patients with CAD.

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