1. Treatment and blood pressure control in isolated systolic hypertension vs diastolic hypertension in primary care
- Author
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R. H. Fagard and M Van den Enden
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Systole ,Systolic hypertension ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Diastole ,Diastolic Hypertension ,Risk Assessment ,Prehypertension ,Pharmacotherapy ,Belgium ,Internal medicine ,Prevalence ,Internal Medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Medical history ,Aged ,Primary Health Care ,business.industry ,Process Assessment, Health Care ,Blood Pressure Determination ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Surgery ,Blood pressure ,Health Care Surveys ,Hypertension ,Cardiology ,Diuretic ,business - Abstract
Cross-sectional surveys on prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension could not satisfactorily distinguish between diastolic hypertension and isolated systolic hypertension because the definition of hypertension included patients under pharmacological treatment. We assessed the situation in the two types of hypertension in general practice in Belgium, based on current blood pressure (BP) measurements and on BP prior to the initiation of drug therapy. Participating physicians enrolled the first 15 at least 55-year-old men visiting the surgery, measured their BP and recorded data on medical history including pretreatment BP, drug utilization, cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage. Diastolic hypertension was defined as diastolic BP> or =90 mmHg, irrespective of systolic BP, and isolated systolic hypertension as systolic BP > or =140 mmHg and diastolic BP < 90 mmHg. Among 3761 evaluable patients, 74% were hypertensive. Among the 1533 hypertensive patients in whom blood pressure was known prior to treatment (n=965) or who were untreated at the study visit (n=568), 1164 had diastolic hypertension and 369 isolated systolic hypertension. The prevalence of antihypertensive treatment was, respectively, 75 and 25% (P
- Published
- 2003
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