[Continuing care of patients with cardiovascular risk in general practice: patients with hypertension and their care].

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is an independent cardiovascular risk factor, therefore continuing care of patients with hypertension is an important task in cardiovascular prevention. AIM: This study was aimed to investigate continuing care of hypertension in general practices. Method of the study was a questionnaire survey, and 830 adult patients were involved. Forms contained information about duration of continuing care, associated risk factors, therapy, damages of target organs, and blood pressure values attained. Blood pressure measurement and hypertension grading were performed by the recommendation of the Hungarian Hypertension Society.
RESULTS: Ratios of men and women participated in the study were 39.8% and 60.2%, respectively. Duration of hypertension care was 10.7 +/- 8.3 year. The care was initiated because of moderate and serious hypertension in 51.4% and 32.7%, respectively. Frequencies of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular problems were parallelly increased with severity of hypertension. Frequency of all types of antihypertensive drugs used were also increased with the hypertension grades. The most frequently used drugs were ACE-inhibitors. The target blood pressure of 140/90 Hgmm was reached in 46.4%, and according to blood pressure measured during the last year of continuing care, patients had mild hypertension in 41.5%, moderate in 7.6%, and serious one in 0.9%. Effectiveness of the hypertension care, based on decrease in blood pressure, was associated with severity of hypertension at the time of its diagnosis, the patients' age, but not with their gender.
CONCLUSION: Summarizing, our results prove that there is a need for intensification of early detection, treatment and continuing care of hypertension.