Open AccessPrevalence, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension in Primary Care: Gaps, Trends, and Opportunities
Author(s) -
Petrella Robert J.,
Merikle Elizabeth P.,
Jones Jared
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the journal of clinical hypertension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1751-7176
pISSN - 1524-6175
DOI - 10.1111/j.1524-6175.2007.05944.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , primary care , odds ratio , population , diabetes mellitus , odds , myocardial infarction , hypertension treatment , prevalence , intensive care medicine , emergency medicine , pediatrics , epidemiology , family medicine , environmental health , logistic regression , endocrinology
Since most cases of hypertension are managed in family practice, estimates of the prevalence, treatment, and control in the primary care population are needed to adequately address the burden of hypertension in Canada as it has in other countries. The authors used a large primary care research database to determine the prevalence of hypertension between 2000 and 2003. Blood pressure recordings were used to estimate the rates of prevalence, treatment, and control of hypertension for the overall population and for important subgroups. The prevalence of hypertension was 17.3%, most patients had untreated hypertension (68.6%), and only 15.8% had blood pressure treated and controlled. Higher rates of treatment and control were observed among older adults, those with type II diabetes, and those with a previous myocardial infarction. Odds of achieving target blood pressure were significantly better when combination therapy vs monotherapy was used. The prevalence of hypertension in primary care is high and most patients remain untreated; however, increased risk appears to lead to better treatment and control.