Background:

Hypertension is one of the main factors that increase the “burden” of atherosclerotic disease.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics, treatment and degree of control in patients treated by cardiologists in our area of influence.

Material and methods:

A cross-sectional study was carried out in 13 cardiology offices analyzing hypertensive patients’ clinical characteristics, blood pressure and pharmacological treatment.

Results:

A total of 519 patients with the following characteristics were enrolled during a 3-month period: 44.9% were men, mean age was 61.5 years, the spell of hypertension was 11.2 years, 24% of patients had cardiovascular disease and mean blood pressure was 133/79.8 mmHg. Among patients without cardiovascular disease, 73% had low cardiovascular risk (<10%). Hypertensive treatment showed that 39.1% of patients were receiving two drugs, 26.8% three, 24.7% one, 7.9% four and 1.35% five drugs. Finally, 60.5% of patients was within the target blood pressure (<140/90 mmHg).

Conclusions:

Hypertensive patients evaluated in our geographical area presented low cardiovascular risk and high use of pharmacological combinations. Pressure targets were achieved in 60% of cases.