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Undertreatment of Hypertension in Older Mexican Americans
Author(s) -
Satish Shiva,
StroupBenham Christine A.,
Espino David V.,
Markides Kyriakos S.,
Goodwin James S.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1998.tb02458.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , population , gerontology , prehypertension , sitting , demography , environmental health , pathology , sociology
OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of hypertension and factors associated with nontreatment and poor control of hypertension in Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older. DESIGN: A population‐based survey of older Mexican Americans conducted in 1993–1994. SETTING: Subjects residing in five Southwestern states: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California. PARTICIPANTS: An area probability sample of 3050 non‐institutionalized Mexican American men and women aged 65 and older took part in a 90‐minute in‐home interview, which included review of all medications taken and two sitting blood pressure measurements. OUTCOME MEASURES: Measured were previous diagnoses of hypertension, current medication for hypertension, and current blood pressure. RESULTS: Sixty‐one percent of older Mexican‐Americans were hypertensive, and 51% of those with hypertension were taking antihypertensive medications. Only 25% of hypertensive subjects (18% of males and 30% of females) were in good blood pressure control (i.e., systolic blood pressure <140 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg). In multivariate analyses, factors associated with increased likelihood of treatment included female gender (OR = 1.9), history of heart disease (OR = 2.4), possessing a regular source of health care (OR = 2.7), and having seen a physician two or more times in the previous year (OR = 3.8). These were also independent predictors of good blood pressure control. CONCLUSION: Nontreatment of hypertension is still a major public health concern in older Mexican Americans. We estimate that adequate blood pressure control in this population would prevent approximately 30,000 adverse cardiovascular events over 10 years, affecting approximately 6% of the entire Mexican American older population.