Treatment and control of arterial hypertension in a rural community in Ecuador.
Cardiovascular diseases are widespread in developing countries, but little is known about cardiovascular risk profiles in rural communities. To assess the importance of arterial hypertension in a rural district of Ecuador, we screened 4284 of the 8876 adults who lived in the area. 1542 (36%) individuals had hypertension, only four (0.3%) of whom were well controlled by treatment. We monitored all deaths for 2.5 years, and noted that cardiovascular diseases were the primary cause of death in the adult population. Furthermore, of the individuals who died of a cardiovascular disease, four out of five had a history of hypertension. Our findings indicate that in this rural area of Ecuador the high prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension is a major cause of total mortality.
Anselmi
Mariella
M
Centro de Epidemiología Comunitaria y Medicina Tropical, Esmeraldas, Ecuador. avanzini@marionegri.it <avanzini@marionegri.it>
Avanzini
Fausto
F
Moreira
Juan-Martín
JM
Montalvo
Gregorio
G
Armani
Daniela
D
Prandi
Rosanna
R
Marquez
Monica
M
Caicedo
Cynthia
C
Colombo
Fabio
F
Tognoni
Gianni
G
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents