May Measurement Month 2017: analysis of the blood pressure screening results in Argentina—Americas

Abstract

Hypertension is a growing concern worldwide, causing over 10 million deaths each year. The prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) in Argentina is 36.3% and 38% of these are unaware of their disease. Half of the hypertensive patients are on pharmacological treatment and only a quarter of them are controlled. The International Society of Hypertension initiated the May Measurement Month (MMM) as a global campaign to raise awareness on high BP that may also serve as a temporary solution to the lack of global screening programs worldwide. A volunteer cross-sectional survey was carried out in May 2017 across 56 health centres. Blood pressure measurement, definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the MMM protocol. For this awareness campaign, the Argentine Society of Hypertension coined the slogan: ‘Know and control your blood pressure’. A total of 32 346 individuals aged at least 18 years were screened during MMM17. After imputation, 16 263 (50.4%) were hypertensive. Of the 12 156 receiving antihypertensive medication 5400 (44.4%) still had uncontrolled BP. MMM17, called in our country ‘Know and control your blood pressure’, was the largest BP screening campaign done in Argentina. Almost 6 out of 10 hypertensive patients were either not on treatment or were not controlled to the BP goal. These results suggest that appropriate screening can help to identify a significant number of people with high BP.

May Measurement Month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Argentinean cohort

“…The overall prevalence of hypertension (43.8%) was lower than that found in MMM17 (50.4%) and other studies in our country. 8 , 10…”

“…6 , 7 With this background, the Argentinian Society of Hypertension (SAHA) has, among its main objectives, the design and establishment of different strategies intended to improve the degree of knowledge and control of hypertension in our country. In the last screening campaign performed in Argentina during May 2017, 8 it was detected that 6 out of 10 hypertensive patients were either not on treatment or did not reach the blood pressure (BP) goal values.…”

Hipertensión y COVID-19: cuidados con los manguitos de presión arterial

“…La hipertensión es una preocupación creciente en todo el mundo y causa más de 10 millones de muertes cada año. La prevalencia de hipertensión arterial (HTA) en Argentina es del 36,3 y el 38% de ellos desconocen su enfermedad 2 .…”

“…4. Se sugiere realizar los registros de toma de presión arterial acorde a las normativas de sociedades científicas reconocidas 2,10 .…”

May Measurement Month 2019: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Argentina

“…In this direction, the SAHA conducted the program ‘Know and Control Your Blood Pressure’ and participated in the synchronized and standardized multinational screening campaign of hypertension proposed by the International Society for Hypertension named ‘May Measurement Month’ (MMM). In the screening campaigns performed in Argentina during 2017 (MMM17) 6 and 2018 (MMM18), 7 6 out of 10 hypertensive patients were either not on treatment or did not reach the BP goal values. In 2019, during the month of May and similar to the previous years, the MMM19 campaign was performed; the main results of this last screening are shown in this manuscript.…”