[Hypertension control in a randomly selected sample of patients from Sarajevo Canton with treatment of hypertension].

Aim: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the success of hypertension control among treated hypertensives in Sarajevo region. As hypertension represents a precursor to series of cardiovascular diseases, tight control of blood pressure within reference range is one of the most important tasks of health professionals worldwide. The problem is further accentuated by the long list of available medications designed to bring elevated blood pressure back to normal.

Method: We examined a total of 200 treated hypertensives, who were taking their prescribed medications and who implemented all life style modifications recommended by their physicians. The patients were subjected to two complete examinations, urine analysis for protein, and for those that reported elevated blood pressure in home environment that was not evident during medical exams, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed. All patients with other comorbidities, as well as those with secondary hypertension, were excluded from the study.

Results: Total of 100 men and 100 women have entered the study. Mean age was 51 +/- 8. Most of the patients were on monotherapy with 61% using ACEI, 11% using CCB, 15% using diuretics and 30% using some combination of these. Mean systolic blood pressure was 167 mmHg +/- 21 mmHg, whereas diastolic was 95 mmHg +/- 19 mmHg. 48% of patients were treated by primary care physicians, whereas 52% were under direct supervision of specialists or sub-specialists. Only 18% of patients had their blood pressure within reference ranges defined by JNC VI.

Discussion: Hypertension remains poorly controlled among our population. Education of both patients and physicians has to be conducted in order to minimize the incidence of other cardiovascular diseases that are directly or indirectly caused by hypertension.