Prevalence, treatment, and control of hypertension in primary care: gaps, trends, and opportunities.

Since most cases of hypertension are managed in family practice, estimates of the prevalence, treatment, and control in the primary care population are needed to adequately address the burden of hypertension in Canada as it has in other countries. The authors used a large primary care research database to determine the prevalence of hypertension between 2000 and 2003. Blood pressure recordings were used to estimate the rates of prevalence, treatment, and control of hypertension for the overall population and for important subgroups.

Persistence and adherence to cholesterol lowering agents: evidence from Régie de l'Assurance Maladie du Québec data.

Background: There is a concern that poor compliance to cholesterol lowering agents (CLA) may compromise their potential benefits. The objective of this study was to estimate compliance to CLAs, in the context of clinical practice in Quebec.

Methods: This study was performed using data from the Régie de l'Assurance Maladie du Québec Persistence and adherence to treatment were estimated separately.

Day treatment for cocaine dependence: incremental utility over outpatient counseling and voucher incentives.

Urban, poor, crack cocaine-dependent clients were randomly assigned to outpatient addiction counseling (n=39) or day treatment (n=40). Participants in both conditions received equivalent individual cognitive-behavioral counseling and earned equivalent payment vouchers for providing cocaine-negative urine samples. However, day treatment participants attended significantly more psychoeducational and recreational groups and received two meals per day.