Assessment of Arterial Stiffness by Brachial Oscillometry in Community Pharmacies for Managing Hypertension (COPHARTEN)

Abstract

Cardiovascular (CV) diseases remain the main cause of death in Spain and Western Europe with rapidly increasing incidence in Latin America. Hypertension (HTN) is the most important determinant of CV death. It firstly became 2016 the most prevalent chronic disease in Spain with 18.5% of the whole population affected, overtaking chronic back pain [1]. According to recent estimations, approximately 12 million subjects suffer HTN in Spain, but only 7 million Spaniards are aware of, less than half of them are treated, and only 2.5 millions thereof are adequately controlled. These numbers are equivalent to 9.5 million people with uncontrolled HTN in Spain, translating into an estimate of 100 CV deaths daily [2].