Lack of effective blood pressure control among an elder hypertensive population in Buenos Aires

Abstract

Our purpose was to determine the level of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in a population of subjects aged 65 or more. We studied a random sample from the national health care program in Buenos Aires. Letters were mailed to 1000 selected individuals. Among those eligible, 41.4% (n = 414) were enrolled. The mean age was 73.8 years and 68% were women. Prevalence of hypertension in our sample was 77.5% (n = 321). Awareness of hypertension was 60.7% (n = 195). Fifty-four percent (n = 173) of the hypertensive subjects were receiving pharmacologic treatment and only 18.5% (n = 32) of them were controlled. These results show that there is a low level of awareness, pharmacologic treatment, and control of hypertension in the studied elderly subjects.

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the elderly: results from a population survey

“…[19][20][21]28 In spite of the higher proportion of treated patients, the mean BP values of our treated patients were higher than those observed in other studies. 20,[28][29][30] Furthermore, 31.9% of our treated patients still had stage 2-3 hypertension, 50.5% had stage 1 hypertension, and only 17.6% had their hypertension controlled.…”

“…18 In other population studies on people aged 65 or over, in which the threshold for hypertension was 140/90 mm Hg, prevalence rates ranged from 51.4% to 77.5%. [19][20][21][22] Differences in case ascertainment procedures and in the protocol for BP evaluation have probably contributed to cause these wide variations in prevalence rates. In order to conform our data to those of the NHANES III study, 18 we used the average of six BP measurements obtained at home on two separate occasions.…”

Prevalence and determinants of hypertension in elderly population of Raipur city, Chhattisgarh

“…[15][16][17] A meta-analysis in Africa reported prevalence of hypertension reaching 70% in an urban Tanzanian population aged more than 70 years. 18,19 Present study shows a positive association with Body Mass Index (BMI), physical activity and age up to old age group (75-84) years. In another study across India and Bangladesh among elderly reveals statistically significant positive association between prevalence of hypertension and physical activity, body mass index, level of education, place of residence and smoking status.…”

Prevención de eventos cardiovasculares en hipertensos mayores de 65 años bajo el cuidado de un programa de control: Estudio de cohorte

“…Aires sobre una muestra randomizada del padrón de la Obra Social de los Jubilados de la Argentina, en la población de mayores de 65 años, demostró que la prevalencia de hipertensión arterial era del 77,5%, el 54% de ellos recibían tratamiento farmacológico y sólo el 18,5% tenía controlada su hipertensión arterial (8).…”