Abstract
Introduction: Adequate treatment of hypertension is infrequent in older patients. Determining the prevalence of hypertension in older patients, identifying the pattern of the treatment in this age group and evaluating their awareness of the disease may help healthcare systems to devise appropriate programs for controlling the disease. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study included a sample from population of Tabriz, a large city in North-West of Iran, who were 60 years or older. Data collection and blood pressure measurements were conducted in the households of the participants from 1st June 2015 through 1st August 2015. Hypertension was defined as systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥150/90 mm Hg or receiving anti-hypertensive medications. Prevalence and determinants of hypertension, awareness of patients about their diagnosis and prevalence of treatment and adequately controlled blood pressure were determined. Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 68.0%. Among hypertensive patients 81.8% were aware of their diagnosis, 78.0% were receiving antihypertensive medications. Among treated patients, 46.2% were adequately controlled. In univariate analysis, prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in women (74.0% vs. 60.7%, P < 0.001). Women were more likely to be aware of diagnosis and to receive antihypertensive medications; however, the prevalence of adequately controlled blood pressure was similar in treated men and women. Among included variables in logistic regression analysis, older age, lower number of family members in household, cardiac diseases, being on low salt low fat diet, higher Body mass index (BMI) and not being educated were independently associated with having hypertension. Conclusion: Hypertension is highly prevalent among older population of Tabriz. Despite high rate of treatment, the rates of control are relatively low, indicating a demand for prevention and better management of hypertension in older individuals.
Highlights
Adequate treatment of hypertension is infrequent in older patients
The sample size was chosen according to the population of elderly in each municipality proportional to the population of whole city, Population data of the municipality and city blocks were obtained from statistical center of Iran and proportional to size (PPS) method was used for selecting relevant blocks
Definition of variables Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 150 mm Hg or more and/or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or more in right and/or left arm
Summary
Adequate treatment of hypertension is infrequent in older patients. Determining the prevalence of hypertension in older patients, identifying the pattern of the treatment in this age group and evaluating their awareness of the disease may help healthcare systems to devise appropriate programs for controlling the disease. Even though prevalence of hypertension increases with age,[7,8] adequate treatment is infrequent in older patients.[2] identifying the pattern of disease prevalence and risk factors is essential for devising a targeted screening program and promoting the awareness of people about the modifiable risk factors of hypertension. Regarding these facts, we devised a cross-sectional study focused only on older population to determine the prevalence of hypertension in Tabriz, the largest city in northwest of a middle-income country, Iran. The awareness of patients about their disease and prevalence of appropriate control of blood pressure and its determinant were investigated in Hypertension in elderly in northwest of Iran our study
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