Trends in Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Blood Pressure Recorded From 2004 to 2014 During World Hypertension Day in Italy

Estimates of blood pressure (BP) control in real life are not systematically collected in Italy. We evaluated trends in systolic/diastolic BP levels, as well as prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension among adult individuals visiting open checkpoints during the 2004 to 2014 annual editions of World Hypertension Day. Hypertension was defined as BP level ≥140/90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medication, whereas BP control was defined as BP level <140/90 mm Hg. We included 10,051 individuals (53.2% female, age 56.2±16.8 years, body mass index 25.7±7.6 kg/m2, systolic/diastolic BP 131.9±18.6/79.1±10.5 mm Hg). Hypertension prevalence and treatment were substantially unchanged, whereas awareness appears to increase over time. Controlled hypertension in diagnosed treated patients increased from 50.0% in 2004–2010 to 55.5% in 2011–2012 towards 57.6% in 2013–2014. This analysis provides real‐life snapshots of hypertension over the years in the occasion of World Hypertension Day, showing increased awareness and improved control rates among treated hypertensive patients attending open checkpoints during 2004 to 2014 in Italy.

[1]  D. Lackland,et al.  Celebrate World Hypertension Day (WHD) on May 17, 2015, and Contribute to Improving Awareness of Hypertension , 2015, Journal of clinical hypertension.

[2]  S. Textor,et al.  Uncontrolled hypertension by the 2014 evidence-based guideline: results from NHANES 2011–2012 , 2015, Journal of hypertension.

[3]  G. Mancia,et al.  Blood pressure levels and control in Italy: comprehensive analysis of clinical data from 2000–2005 and 2005–2011 hypertension surveys , 2015, Journal of Human Hypertension.

[4]  S. Oparil,et al.  Trends in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control Among US Adults 80 Years and Older, 1988–2010 , 2014, Journal of clinical hypertension.

[5]  I. del Cura-González,et al.  Trends in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control in an Adult Type 2 Diabetes Spanish Population between 2003 and 2009 , 2014, PloS one.

[6]  Philippe Van De Borne,et al.  Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension , 2014 .

[7]  H. Lu,et al.  Trends of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in rural areas of northern China during 1991–2011 , 2014, Journal of Human Hypertension.

[8]  Jeroen J. Bax,et al.  2007 ESH-ESC Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension: the task force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). , 2007, Blood pressure.

[9]  M. Volpe.  The Changing Role of Hypertension Societies , 2012, High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention.

[10]  F. Lu,et al.  Trends in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control Rates in Shandong Province of China , 2012, Journal of clinical hypertension.

[11]  E. Guallar,et al.  Survey of physicians’ practices in the control of cardiovascular risk factors: the EURIKA study , 2012, European journal of preventive cardiology.

[12]  G. Mancia,et al.  Blood pressure control in Italy: analysis of clinical data from 2005–2011 surveys on hypertension , 2012, Journal of hypertension.

[13]  Gretchen A. Stevens,et al.  National, regional, and global trends in systolic blood pressure since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 786 country-years and 5·4 million participants , 2011, The Lancet.

[14]  M. Böhm,et al.  A Global Perspective on Blood Pressure Treatment and Control in a Referred Cohort of Hypertensive Patients , 2010, Journal of clinical hypertension.

[15]  S. Oparil,et al.  Triple therapy with olmesartan medoxomil, amlodipine besylate, and hydrochlorothiazide in adult patients with hypertension: The TRINITY multicenter, randomized, double-blind, 12-week, parallel-group study. , 2010, Clinical therapeutics.

[16]  G. Bakris,et al.  Benazepril plus amlodipine or hydrochlorothiazide for hypertension in high-risk patients. , 2008, The New England journal of medicine.

[17]  G. Parati,et al.  Italian Society of Hypertension Guidelines for Conventional and Automated Blood Pressure Measurement in the Office, at Home and Over 24 Hours , 2008, High blood pressure & cardiovascular prevention : the official journal of the Italian Society of Hypertension.

[18]  A. Dominiczak,et al.  2007 ESH-ESC Practice Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension: ESH-ESC Task Force on the Management of Arterial Hypertension. , 2007, Journal of hypertension.

[19]  G. Mancia,et al.  Blood pressure control in Italy: results of recent surveys on hypertension , 2007, Journal of hypertension.

[20]  A. Dominiczak,et al.  2007 Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension: The Task Force for the Management of Arterial Hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) , 2007, European heart journal.

[21]  K. Reynolds,et al.  Global burden of hypertension: analysis of worldwide data , 2005, The Lancet.

[22]  Marco M. Ferrario,et al.  La valutazione del rischio cardiovascolare globale assoluto: il punteggio individuale del Progetto CUORE , 2004 .

[23]  Salvatore Panico,et al.  [Evaluation of the global cardiovascular absolute risk: the Progetto CUORE individual score]. , 2004, Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanita.

[24]  F. Turnbull.  Effects of different blood-pressure-lowering regimens on major cardiovascular events: results of prospectively-designed overviews of randomised trials , 2003, The Lancet.

[25]  Yutaka Imai,et al.  European Society of Hypertension recommendations for conventional, ambulatory and home blood pressure measurement , 2003, Journal of hypertension.

[26]  R. Collins,et al.  Age-specific relevance of usual blood pressure to vascular mortality: a meta-analysis of individual data for one million adults in 61 prospective studies , 2002, The Lancet.

[27]  P. Lapuerta,et al.  The Challenge of Controlling Systolic Blood Pressure: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988–1994 , 2001, Journal of clinical hypertension.