National Registry: Hypertension not controlled in 76% of patients in primary care

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The first report from a Spanish national registry of blood pressure control showed that only 24% of the 40,000 patients diagnosed and treated by about 1000 general practitioners had blood pressures that were correctly controlled (abstract).

Outpatient treatment of hypertension is a predictive factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, “even better than clinical treatment of hypertension,” stated Jose R. Banegas, MD, of the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Spain. In the registry, blood pressure was measured every half over for 24 hours. Banegas noted that ambulatory monitoring “and even self-measuring at home, training the patient well and using certified devices,” is a good strategy, because this is related to a doubling of control rates.