Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 135, June 2016, Pages 135-139
Public Health

Short Communication
Blood pressure profiles, and awareness and treatment of hypertension in Europe – results from the EHES Pilot Project

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2015.10.035Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We examine hypertension, and awareness and treatment of hypertension in Europe.

  • Large proportion of people are unaware and untreated for their hypertension.

  • Wide differences in hypertension, awareness and treatment exist in Europe.

Section snippets

Mean blood pressure

The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 129.2 mmHg among men and 119.5 mmHg among women. Mean SBP varied by more than 10 mmHg between populations in both sexes. The mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 80.0 mmHg for men and 75.3 mmHg for women; this varied by about 10 mmHg between populations. Both mean SBP and DBP increased with age in men and women (Table 1).

Prevalence of hypertension

Prevalence of hypertension (SBP ≥ 140 mmHg or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg or on antihypertensive medication) was 33% among men and 23% among women. Large variations between populations were observed in men (up to 27% points) and women (up to 33% points). Hypertension prevalence increased significantly with age in both men and women (Table 1).

Awareness of elevated blood pressure

Self-reported hypertension was 22% among men and 24% among women. Variation between populations was larger among women (27% points) than men (21% points). Among those with survey-defined hypertension, 51% of men and 70% of women were aware of their condition. Variation between populations was extremely large (53% points among men and 89% points among women) (Table 1).

Self-reported hypertension among all participants increased with age in both men and women, as did awareness of elevated blood

Treatment and control of hypertension

At the population level, 13% of men and 12% of women used antihypertensive medication. Variation between populations was 16% points for men and 15% points for women. Among hypertensives, 31% of men and 40% of women were taking antihypertensive medication. Large variations in the treatment rates were observed between populations: 56% points for men and 29% points for women. The use of anti-hypertensive treatment increased significantly with age in both sexes (Table 1).

Among those taking

What could explain variations between population

We observed large variation between populations in the prevalence of hypertension, and awareness and treatment of hypertension. The small sample sizes in the study populations are likely to contribute to the variation. Additionally, differences in the health care systems and hypertension treatment guidelines and practices between countries may explain part of the observed variation.

What has changed in the past 10–20 years

The key finding from these 12 pilot surveys was that in the general adult population, aged 25–64 years, one third of men had hypertension. Of these, half were aware of their condition, one third were receiving medical treatment, and over half of those on treatment had their blood pressure levels under control. In women, the situation was similar: one in five women had hypertension; of these, seven out of ten were aware of their condition, four out of ten were under medical treatment, and six

Implications of future

Uncontrolled hypertension is a risk factor for target organ damage (heart, blood vessels, kidneys, brain and eyes) and for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Large variations in the prevalence of hypertension and in awareness and treatment of hypertension as well as the effectiveness of treatment of hypertension are likely to reflect differences in health care systems as well as treatment guidelines and practices between countries. Our findings indicate that there is a need to develop

Acknowledgements

We should like to thank all the members of the national survey teams (Appendix) for their work in collecting the data and staff of the EHES Reference Centre for preparation of the standardized survey protocols and conducting the quality assessment.

Ethical approval

Each of the 12 surveys has obtained the ethical approval from their national/regional ethical committees. These ethical committees have been listed in the Appendix II.

Funding

The EHES Pilot Project received funding from the European Commission: Service

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List of key persons in the EHES Pilot Project (Appendix).

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