Prevalence of treatment-resistant hypertension and important associated factors-results from the Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database.

We aimed to describe the prevalence, treatment, and associated comorbidity of treatment-resistant hypertension (TRH). This registry-based cohort study from The Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database assessed 53,090 hypertensive patients attending primary care. Patients adherent to antihypertensive treatment measured by pharmacy fills and with proportion of days covered ≥80% were included. The prevalence of TRH was 17% when considering all current TRH definitions. Adherence to mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists differed between TRH- and non-TRH patients (8 vs. 4%). Higher frequencies (prevalence ratio and 95% confidence intervals) of diabetes mellitus (1.59, 1.53-1.66), heart failure (1.55, 1.48-1.64), atrial fibrillation (1.33, 1.27-1.40), ischemic heart disease (1.25, 1.20-1.30), and chronic kidney disease (1.38, 1.23-1.54) were seen in patients with TRH compared to patients without TRH. These findings, in a population with valid data on medication adherence, emphasize a broad preventive approach for these high-risk patients.