title: Despite evidence-based guidelines, systolic blood pressure remains inadequately controlled in older hypertensive adults.
abstract: We aimed to assess the trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Finnish men and women aged 60-74 years. Three independent cross-sectional population surveys were conducted in 1997, 2002 and 2007 in the province of North Karelia and the region of Helsinki-Vantaa. Random samples were selected from the national population register. The total number of participants was 3282. In 2007, the prevalence of hypertension was 79% in men and 78% in women. The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) (in men, 151 mm Hg in 1997, 148 mm Hg in 2002 and 149 mm Hg in 2007; in women 150, 149 and 149 mm Hg, respectively) and prevalence of hypertension (77% in 1997, 74% in 2002 and 79% in 2007 in men; 75, 75 and 78% in women, respectively) remained stable. The mean diastolic blood pressure (BP) decreased in both genders. Awareness of hypertension increased from 60 to 71% in men (P<0.001 for trend) and from 66 to 76% (P=0.012) in women. The prevalence of antihypertensive drug treatment among hypertensive people increased from 35 to 56% in both genders (P<0.001). The proportion of treated hypertensive patients with adequately controlled BP increased from 16 to 32% in men (P<0.001) and from 16 to 30% in women (P=0.003). Hypertension care in older adults has improved in Finland during 1997 to 2007. The situation is not optimal: the main problem in this age group is high SBP.
authors.affiliation: Oulu City Hospital, Oulu, Finland. Riitta.Antikainen@ouka.fi
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Antikainen
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kastarinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jousilahti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peltonen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Laatikainen
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jokelainen
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Barengo
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Tuomilehto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D013599:Systole / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents