PP.29.19

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of hypertension increases with age and in the elderly is 60–80%. As longevity increases, so does the prevalence of age-related comorbidities, which make difficult to control the blood pressure (BP) in elderly hypertensive patients. Herewith we report the results of a 5-year retrospective study on an outpatient population carried out by an ambulatory nephrology unit dedicated to hypertension. Design and method: The following parameters were recorded from a cohort of elderly hypertensive patients evaluated from October 2009 to September 2014: age, sex, number of visits, body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference, BP levels in the sitting position, serum glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), lipid profile, comorbidities, antihypertensive drugs prescribed. Patients who had BP levels lower than 140/90 mmHg and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and/or diabetes mellitus (DM) who had BP levels lower than 130/80 mmHg were considered as having achieved BP control. Results: Four hundred seventy-nine patients (284 females/195 males) were older than 65 years (mean age, 73.7 years) and had an average of 2.91 visits per patient (range, 1–13). The following comorbidities were detected: CKD, DM, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), coronary heart disease, peripheral arterial disease, dyslipidemia, obesity. Overall, BP control was achieved by 70,60 % of patients. In patients with CKD, DM, or both, BP control was achieved by 57.70%, 57.73%, and 52.88%, respectively. Compared to patients whose BP was not controlled, those achieving BP control were younger (mean age, 73.3 vs. 74.6 years) and showed a lower BMI (29.7 vs. 30.4 kg/m2), a lower waist circumference (98.8 vs. 101.5 cm), a higher eGFR (68,2 vs. 59.3 mL/min) and a lower serum glucose (103.8 vs. 112.2 mg/dL). Moreover, they were more closely followed up (3.19 vs. 2.21 visit per patient) and were prescribed a lower number of antihypertensive drugs (2.18 vs. 2.49). No significant difference there was in sex, lipid profile, number of the remaining comorbidities Conclusions: BP control was achieved in more than 70% of our elderly hypertensive outpatients with sundry comorbidities. This figure is better than those reported in the literature.