[Prevalence of symptoms associated with blood pressure in normal and hypertensive population].
BACKGROUND
High blood pressure should be symptomless. However, popular knowledge attributes some symptoms such as headache, epistaxis or dizziness to high blood pressure.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of headache, epistaxis, subconjunctival hemorrhages and dizziness in people with normal or high blood pressure.


METHODS
A representative sample of an urban population in Chile was studied. Each subject with high blood pressure was paired with a non-related individual of the same sex and age. These subjects were interrogated about the presence of symptoms.


RESULTS
One thousand forty eight subjects with high blood pressure (481 male) and 1052 individuals with normal pressure (483 male), were studied. In subjects with high or normal blood pressure, the prevalence of headache was 22 and 21.8% respectively, epistaxis was 11.6 and 11% respectively, dizziness was 7.4 and 7.6% respectively, tinnitus was 9.1 and 9.4% respectively and subconjunctival hemorrhage was 2.9 and 3.1% respectively (p = NS).


CONCLUSIONS
No differences in the prevalence of symptoms, popularly attributed to hypertension, were observed between subjects with normal or high blood pressure.
Fasce
Eduardo
E
Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario. efasce@udec.cl
Flores
Maritza
M
Fasce
Fabrizio
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004244:Dizziness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004844:Epistaxis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005130:Eye Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence