[Current situation of hypertensive patients over 75 years old: the DISEHTAE study].

OBJECTIVE: To assess in patients over 75 years old the degree of their compliance with recommendations on follow-up, control and treatment of hypertension.

DESIGN: Descriptive, multi-centre study, covering the whole of Spain.

SETTING: A total of 107 health centres from 14 autonomous communities.

PARTICIPANTS: Hypertensive patients over 75: 1,369 clinical charts. INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN MEASUREMENTS: The variables studied were: age and sex, place monitored, blood pressure figures, screening for, and diagnosis of diabetes, hypercholesterolaemia, smoking, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and obesity. Blood creatinine, proteinuria, prescribed medication, and infrastructure variables were also included.

RESULTS: The most often screened cardiovascular risk factor (CRF) was obesity (76.1%), whilst the most prevalent was hypercholesterolaemia (31.3%). Of the patients, 25.5% had associated diabetes and 48.5% had a body mass index (BMI) >25. Low microalbuminuria (8.4%) was found. The proportion of patients with their blood pressure controlled was higher among those monitored in primary care (32.8%) than out of primary care (23.2%). No drug treatment was prescribed for 7.9%, only hygiene-dietary measures. The most common pharmacological group was that of the diuretics, followed by IECAS and ARA II.

CONCLUSIONS: Though we can say that the degree of control of hypertension in elderly patients is steadily increasing, it is still far from optimal in most of our patients.