Lack of effective blood pressure control among an elder hypertensive population in Buenos Aires.
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.
Servicio de Clínica Médica, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina. przygoda@iname.com
P
P
Przygoda
J
J
Janson
M
M
O'Flaherty
G
G
Waisman
C R
CR
Galarza
J
J
Alfie
L A
LA
Cámera
M I
MI
Cámera
L M
LM
Mayorga
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents