Epidemiological and clinical profile of hypertensive octogenarian patients and factors associated with uncontrolled hypertension: Observational study of 346 patients

Abstract

Hypertension is the main risk factor for most morbidities of elderly subjects. The objective of this study was to identify the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of hypertension in octogenarians and to identify the factors associated with uncontrolled hypertension in this population. We used data collected in the outpatient cardiology department of the university hospital of Sfax between 15 April 2019 and 15 May 2019 as part of the National Tunisian Registry of Hypertension. We described epidemiological and clinical profile of octogenarian hypertensive patients and we looked for relationships between uncontrolled hypertension and sociodemographic, lifestyle, clinical, and therapeutic factors using logistic regression models. We included 346 subjects (45.1% male and 54.9% female), with a mean age of 84.36 SD 4.01 years. More than half of them had uncontrolled hypertension. Dyslipidemia was the most common cardiovascular risk factor found in 43% followed by diabetes (35.5%). One-third of patients had a history of coronary artery disease and/or stroke. Renal failure and kalemia disorders were observed respectively in 12.1% and 25.2% of patients. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with uncontrolled HTN were male sex [ P = 0.032, odds ratio (OR) = 1.663, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.045–2.647], diabetes ( P = 0.037, OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.031–2.688) and poor adherence to blood pressure medications ( P = 0.008, OR = 1.960, 95% CI: 1.195–3.214). Our results showed that more than half of octogenarian hypertensive patients did not reach the BP target. Systematic research of behaviors suggesting poor hygienic-dietary behavior or poor adherence should be a top priority for physicians caring for this population.