Proportion and Determinants of Uncontrolled Hypertension among Treated

Abstract

Background: Heart failure is a common clinical syndrome with a high morbidity and mortality, despite advances in medical treatment. Death from dangerous ventricular arrhythmias is frequently implicated.
Patients, materials & methods: Eighty patients with heart failure (HF) (fitting the criteria of heart failure) who were admitted to the medical city teaching hospital during a period of 8 months, were studied for incidence of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (N.S.V.T.) (detected by Holter monitoring) and its association with the severity of left ventricular dysfunction (measured by ejection fraction), ventricular size (measured by left ventricular end diastolic dimension), and other factors .
Results: It was found that out of 80 patients with H.F, 20 patients (25%) have N.S.V.T. N.S.V.T was found to be significantly associated with the severity of H.F. and left ventricular dimension. Hypertension (HT) remains poorly controlled even in the developed countries in spite of theimprovement in management. Many studies found that about 70% of people with HT remainuncontrolled. The aim of this study is to determine the proportion, and determinants ofuncontrolled HT (UHT) among treated hypertensive patients. A random sample of 214 knownhypertensive patients, on regular treatment for a minimum of one year was included. The mean ofthree blood pressure (BP) readings measured two weeks apart was considered. Controlled BPwas defined as systolic BP≤140mmHg, and diastolic BP≤90 mmHg. A questionnaire was used tocollect data on certain demographic variables (age, gender, marital status, educational status,crowding index), smoking habit, salt, and alcohol intake, number of used antihypertensive drugs,frequency of BP checking, co morbid illnesses, and certain anthropometric measurements. Theproportion of UHT is 68%. Although the proportion of UHT was higher among older agepatients, males, currently married, college graduate, those using three antihypertensive drugs,patients with no dietary salt restriction, or no co morbid illnesses, but these factors were notproved to be statistically significant. Current smoking, Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥25Kg/m2(reflecting overweight/ Obesity), and frequency of BP checking were statistically significantpredictors of UHT.