[Secondary prevention of arterial hypertension in rural population of Moldavia].

The results of the third year of nondrug and pharmacological prevention of arterial hypertension according to the steppedcare scheme of WHO are provided. A low rate of response (46%) to annual check-up was noted among rural residents with arterial hypertension detected by screening which hampers the preventive intervention. During the third year of preventive campaign 9.3 percent of people were covered by regular hypertensive treatment, 20.61 percent--by irregular treatment and 24.4 percent with elevated blood pressures detected by screening never received any treatment. Among women the proportion of those receiving hypertensive treatment (both regular and irregular) was larger. An analysis was made of mean levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the beginning and at the end of the third year of observation in groups of patients with different attitude to treatment. At the third year of implementing the programme of secondary prevention the number of hypertonic patients receiving effective treatment increased 8-fold compared with baseline data. Persons with higher levels of arterial blood pressure were more often applying for treatment. The normalization of arterial blood pressure was noted in 39% of persons applying for regular treatment, 31%--for irregular treatment and in 26% of non-treated hypertonic patients.