DIFFERENCES IN LABORATORY FINDINGS OF HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS DEPENDING ON RISK FACTORS, SETTLEMENT AND AGE

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension is a chronic disease with growing incidence. Monitoring of laboratory parameters is important in global cardiovascular risk assessment of hypertensive patients and prevention of complications. Evaluation and comparison of laboratory results and risks in patients included in distinct age groups and those from urban and rural settlements. Design and method: The study was conducted on 127 hypertensive patients during the first three months of 2017 at an urban outpatient unit specialized on cardiovascular diseases. Serum samples of patients were processed with Konelab20XTi analyzer using photometric method. Glycemia and lipid profile, kidney and liver function were determined. Urine tests were performed using the HandUReader equipment. Statistical processing of data was made using the GraphPad InStat program. Threshold of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Mean age of the patients was 63 years, 56.7% were male subjects. Significant difference (p = 0.0475) occured between serum HDL-cholesterol concentration of rural (average 75.6 mg/dl ± 12.5 SD) and urban patients (average 49.1 mg/dl ± 13.0 SD). Significantly higher serum urea levels were found in the rural subgroup (mean: 44.3 mg/dl ± 13.0 SD) compared to those from urban settlements (mean: 36.4 mg/dl ± 15.0 SD). Pathological urine compounds were found in 43.3% of rural patients and in 29.9% of urban subjects. Significant difference could be observed between the comorbidities present in these subgroups: diabetes was twice as frequent in the rural subgroup compared to urban subjects, prevalence of dislipidemia was three times higher in the urban group compared to rural patients. Significant difference could be observed between creatinine-based glomerular filtration rate (average 57.7 mL/min) of elderly subjects (>70 years) compared to higher values of younger patients, especially those under 60 years of age. No significant difference could be noticed between glycemia, serum uric acid, triglyceride, total cholesterol concentration and transaminase activity of different subgroups based on age or settlement. Conclusions: We can conclude that rural patients present higher protective HDL-cholesterol level compared to urban subjects and lower prevalence of dislipidemia, probably related to their different diet, this might also be the background of their higher serum urea concentration.