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Evaluation of therapeutic control in a Pakistani population with hypertension
Author(s) -
Saleheen Danish,
Hashmi Saman K.,
Zaidi Moazzam,
Rasheed Asif,
Murtaza Muhammed,
Abbas Adil,
Nasim Sana,
Hameed Mustafa Qadir,
Shuja Fahad,
Sethi Muhammad Jawad,
Hussain Imad,
Shahid Kamran,
Khalid Hamza,
Ahmad Usman,
Frossard Philippe M.,
Ishaq Muhammad
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2009.01256.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , population , sedentary lifestyle , prehypertension , physical therapy , lifestyle modification , risk factor , cardiology , intensive care medicine , disease , obesity , environmental health
Rationale, aims and objectives 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. Method 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.