A medical impact of war: the hypertension crises dynamic in an adjacent population

Abstract

Abstract Background The current military conflagration in Ukraine impacted also boundaring countries by fear military conflict extension in the region, often augmented by mass-media, as well as by real horror stories told by refugees. Goal. The aim of our research was evolutive assessment of the hypertension (HTN) crises in our emergency units during last twenty months. Method In this observational study, we analysed 45.293 patient (pts) files during five distinct intervals: 24.06.2021-23.10.2021, as four months of peace (P), 24.10.2021-23.02.2022, as four months of pre-war army manœvres (PW), 24.02.2022-23.06.2022, as the first four months of war – Russian invasion (RI), 24.06.2022-23.10.2022, as next four months of war – Ukrainean counteroffensive (UC), and 24.10.2022 – 23.02.2023, as other four months of war – Russian destructive attacks (RD), statistically matched 1:1:1:1:1. The acquisition of arterial pressure values was performed by professional digital tensiometers. Results From a quite steady number of 150 +/- 14 pts daily, the distribution of HTN pts was: 29,17 (P); 38,21 (PW); 67,49 (RI); 43,58 (UC); 56,14 (RD). Concerning the HTN crises, the data are as follows: 12,43 (P); 14,97 (PW); 27,65 (RI); 16,28 (UC); 24,93 (RD). Demographically, the male predominance oscillated as follows: 68,32% (P); 65,89% (PW); 59,58% (RI); 62,37% (UC); 56,94% (RD). The medium age for HTN crises pts balanced as follows: 65,32 yrs (P); 64,97 yrs (PW); 62,18 yrs (RI); 63,74 yrs (UC); 62,85 (RD). Conclusion According to our outcomes, the stress and high anxiety caused by fear of war in the neighbourhood significantly influenced the incidence of HTN crises along the five abovementioned periods. The most dramatic data were registered during RI period. Taking into consideration that this war is irrepeatable, this research is unique.