HELLENIC CARDIORENAL MORBIDITY SNAPSHOT (HECMOS). HIGH PREVALENCE OF DIFFICULT-TO-CONTROL HYPERTENSION IN CARDIOLOGY INPATIENTS WITH COMORBIDITIES

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Objective: Uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) remains a major public health problem, especially among older people with multiple comorbidities. We aimed to show the prevalence of uncontrolled HTN among the HECMOS participants. Design and method: HECMOS was a nationwide crossection survey of cardiorenal morbidity among 923 cardiology inpatients on the 3rd of March 2022 via an electronic case report form. Uncontrolled HTN was defined under the current ESH/ESC HTN guidelines, while patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate below 60 ml/min/1.73m2 were considered as cases of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Results: HTN prevalence was linearly related to patients’ age, whereas difficult-to-control HTN showed a similar trend, found to be higher among patients older than 80. There was a statistically significant difference (p = 0,001) in HTN prevalence between patients aged over 60 years (60 - 69:71,1%, 70 - 79:74,1%, >OR = 80:79,0%) and younger participants (<40:3,1%, 40 - 49:33,3%, 50 - 59: 48,5%). HTN history was similarly reported among cases of Heart Failure (HF), Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Atrial Fibrillation (AF), and CKD, the four more prevalent morbid conditions in our sample. Nevertheless, HTN prevalence was higher in CKD and DM patients than in others without CKD or DM (76.6% vs. 63.6%, 77.6% vs. 61.4%, respectively, p = 0.001). Conclusions: In this nationwide opportunistic survey, HTN and difficult-to-control HTN was highly prevalent among cardiology inpatients of older age, CKD, and DM.