Evaluation of therapeutic control in a Pakistani population with hypertension |
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| Authors: | Danish Saleheen MBBS MPhil Saman K. Hashmi MBBS Moazzam Zaidi MBBS Asif Rasheed MBBS Muhammed Murtaza MBBS student Adil Abbas MBBS Sana Nasim MBBS Mustafa Qadir Hameed MBBS Fahad Shuja MBBS Muhammad Jawad Sethi MBBS Imad Hussain MBBS Kamran Shahid MBBS Hamza Khalid MBBS Usman Ahmad MBBS Philippe M. Frossard BSc MSc MPhil PhD DSc Muhammad Ishaq BSc MBBS MRCP FACC FRCP |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Non‐Communicable Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan;2. The authors have contributed equally to this work.;3. Honorary Investigator,;4. Research Medical Officer,;5. Medical Student,;6. Investigator,;7. Department of Surgery, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA and Honorary Investigator, Center for Non‐Communicable Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan;8. Investigator, Center for Non‐Communicable Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan;9. Consultant Cardiologist, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan |
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| Abstract: | Rationale, aims and objectives Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasing at an alarming rate in South Asia. High blood pressure is a modifiable risk factor for CVD. In this study, we evaluated the control of blood pressure and the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with hypertension. Method A cross‐sectional study was conducted in 50 primary health care centres throughout Pakistan. Individuals with a documented history of hypertension, receiving pharmacological therapy, were enrolled and evaluated for the control of their blood pressure. Results The recommended therapeutic control of hypertension (systolic blood pressure <140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure <90 mmHg) was seen in only 6.4% of the study participants. Values of both the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures in all subjects were higher than the desired therapeutic levels (P < 0.001). There was a high prevalence in the study population of established but modifiable risk factors of CVD, such as smoking (30.5%), hypercholesterolemia (59.5%) and sedentary lifestyle (43.5%). Lack of therapeutic control of systolic blood pressure was found significantly associated with age, hypercholesterolemia and sedentary lifestyle (P < 0.05). Conclusions Patients being treated at primary health care centres in Pakistan have inadequate control of high blood pressure. Evidence‐based continuous education of primary health care physicians is a necessary intervention for optimizing treatment strategies and achieving better therapeutic control of hypertension in our population. |
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| Keywords: | cardiovascular risk factors hypertension South Asia Pakistan therapeutic control |
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