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Prevalence and treatment of hypertensive patients with multiple concomitant cardiovascular risk factors in The Netherlands and Italy

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 704–713 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The Anglo–Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial–Lipid-Lowering Arm (ASCOT–LLA) trial demonstrated the benefits of combined antihypertensive/lipid-lowering treatment over antihypertensive treatment alone in hypertensive patients with ⩾3 additional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. We assessed the prevalence and treatment of patients with hypertension and ⩾3 additional CV risk factors in The Netherlands and Italy in a retrospective cohort study using the Integrated Primary Care Information (IPCI) database in The Netherlands and the Health Search/Thales Database (HSD) in Italy. Patients aged ⩾16 years, with 1 year of valid database history, diagnosed and/or treated for hypertension (>140/90 mmHg) during 2000–2002 were included in the study. The IPCI and HSD populations consisted of ∼175 000 and ∼325 000 patients, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension increased from 20.3 to 22.3% in the IPCI, and from 19.0 to 21.8% in the HSD during 2000–2002. The prevalence of ⩾3 concomitant risk factors among hypertensive patients increased from 31.2 and 31.1% in 2000 to 34.2 and 39.3% in 2002 in the IPCI and HSD, respectively. From 2000 to 2002, among hypertensive patients with ⩾3 CV risk factors and no prior symptomatic CV disease (CVD) approximately 54–57% in the IPCI and 80–83% in the HSD received antihypertensive treatment. In these patients, the use of combined antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment increased from 14.2 to 17.6% in the IPCI and from 15.5 to 17.4% in the HSD from 2000 to 2002. This study shows that primary prevention of CVD in hypertensive patients in The Netherlands and Italy could be improved.

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Acknowledgements

This study was sponsored by Pfizer Inc. Editorial support was provided by Jon Edwards and Fiona Nitsche of Envision Pharma and funded by Pfizer Inc.

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Author notes

  1. E Mozaffari: at the time the study was conducted

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Medical Informatics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    M C J M Sturkenboom, J P Dieleman & J van der Lei

  2. International Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Research Center, Desio, Italy

    G Picelli

  3. Italian College of Primary Care Physicians, Florence, Italy

    G Mazzaglia, A Filippi & C Cricelli

  4. Worldwide Outcomes Research, Pfizer Inc, NY, USA

    E Mozaffari

Authors
  1. M C J M Sturkenboom
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  2. J P Dieleman
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  4. G Mazzaglia
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  5. E Mozaffari
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  6. A Filippi
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  7. C Cricelli
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Correspondence to M C J M Sturkenboom.

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Sturkenboom, M., Dieleman, J., Picelli, G. et al. Prevalence and treatment of hypertensive patients with multiple concomitant cardiovascular risk factors in The Netherlands and Italy. J Hum Hypertens 22, 704–713 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.82

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.82

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