Awareness, treatment and control of hypertension declining

Awareness, treatment and control of hypertension declining in US. Study points at necessity to follow response to therapeutic measures. WESTPORT, Aug 20 (Reuters Health) - In a disturbing trend, the rates of high blood pressure awareness, treatment, and control in the US continue to fall, according to a report to be published in the September issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Dr. Irene Meissner and colleagues at Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota, interviewed and measured blood pressures in 636 subjects randomly selected for participation in the Stroke Prevention: Assessment of Risk in a Community (SPARC) study conducted in Olmsted County, Minnesota. The population was 94% white. Overall, Dr. Meissner's team found, an average of 53% of the men and 54% of the women had blood pressure of 140/90 mm Hg or above, or reported a history of hypertension. "The percentage of subjects with treated and controlled hypertension was 16.6%," the researchers report. "The proportion of subjects who had treated but uncontrolled hypertension was 27.9%. Thirty-nine percent of subjects were unaware of their hypertensive status." Physicans who assume that a given life style modification will always yield the expected result may find that results are not always favorable. In some centers follow up blood pressure check ups are scheduled up to three to six months without any effective corrective measures. The authors compared these results with those of a 1986 survey of the same population in which identical blood pressure measurement techniques were used. In the current study, they note, "...fewer subjects were aware that they had high blood pressure, and fewer subjects had their blood pressure controlled with treatment than in 1986. These differences were consistent for both genders, all ages, and all blood pressures." "This study illustrates a disturbingly low awareness and control of hypertension in a community that is socioeconomically prosperous, with easy access to both primary and tertiary medical care," the research team writes. Dr. Meissner said that she hopes this report and the renewed efforts of several national organizations pushing for more preventive measures will result in an upswing in hypertension awareness and treatment. She and her research team, she reported, are currently trying to determine whether the blood pressure trends are matched by increasing rates of coronary heart disease and stroke.