Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the elderly: the Three City study

Abstract

Management of hypertension, and particularly its control among treated hypertensive patients, needs to be improved in people aged 65 years and over.

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the elderly population of Singapore

“…36 The prevalence of hypertension and its awareness, treatment and control in studies conducted exclusively among the elderly and using our criteria for defining hypertension is given in Table 5. 14,15,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Although most of these studies reported a lower prevalence of hypertension 17,20,[22][23][24][25]27 than what we observed (73.9%), some Hypertension among elderly Singaporeans R Malhotra et al reported a similar prevalence 14,19,21,23,26 or, in one study, 15 an even higher prevalence. Other than differences in the BP measurement instrument (manual or electronic) and number of readings (two or three) used for defining SBP and DBP, the variation could also reflect differences in demographic (for example, age, gender, ethnicity) and lifestyle (for example, diet, physical activity) profiles and in economic development across countries (prevalence is usually higher in more developed economies 38 ).…”

“…Many previous population-based surveys also report findings based on BP values measured during a single visit. 6,[15][16][17][19][20][21][22]24,27 Given the survey's cross-sectional design, the identified correlates of hypertension are not necessarily causal risk factors. However, most of the sociodemographic variables we consider must have preceded the development of hypertension.…”

“…1,14,15,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Among hypertensives, those who responded in the negative to 'Have you ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure by a medical professional?' were considered to be unaware and those who responded in the negative to 'Are you presently taking any medicine prescribed by a physician for high blood pressure?'…”

“…A variety of socio-demographic and health variables, evaluated as potential correlates with hypertension and/or awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in previous studies, 6,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]32 were evaluated as correlates in the present analysis.…”

“…4,6 Recognizing the elderly as an at-risk population, studies in various countries have documented the prevalence and correlates of hypertension and of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among the elderly. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] These studies suggest considerable heterogeneity for the prevalence of these conditions across elderly subgroups, defined by socio-demographic or health characteristics. Furthermore, neither the prevalence nor the identified correlates are uniform across countries.…”