Evaluation of therapeutic control in a Pakistani population with hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasing at an alarming rate in South Asia. High blood pressure is a modifiable risk factor for CVD. In this study, we evaluated the control of blood pressure and the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with hypertension.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 50 primary health care centres throughout Pakistan. Individuals with a documented history of hypertension, receiving pharmacological therapy, were enrolled and evaluated for the control of their blood pressure.


RESULTS
The recommended therapeutic control of hypertension (systolic blood pressure <140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure <90 mmHg) was seen in only 6.4% of the study participants. Values of both the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures in all subjects were higher than the desired therapeutic levels (P<0.001). There was a high prevalence in the study population of established but modifiable risk factors of CVD, such as smoking (30.5%), hypercholesterolemia (59.5%) and sedentary lifestyle (43.5%). Lack of therapeutic control of systolic blood pressure was found significantly associated with age, hypercholesterolemia and sedentary lifestyle (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients being treated at primary health care centres in Pakistan have inadequate control of high blood pressure. Evidence-based continuous education of primary health care physicians is a necessary intervention for optimizing treatment strategies and achieving better therapeutic control of hypertension in our population.
Saleheen
Danish
D
Center for Non-Communicable Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan.
Hashmi
Saman K
SK
Zaidi
Moazzam
M
Rasheed
Asif
A
Murtaza
Muhammed
M
Abbas
Adil
A
Nasim
Sana
S
Hameed
Mustafa Qadir
MQ
Shuja
Fahad
F
Sethi
Muhammad Jawad
MJ
Hussain
Imad
I
Shahid
Kamran
K
Khalid
Hamza
H
Ahmad
Usman
U
Frossard
Philippe M
PM
Ishaq
Muhammad
M
D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors