Prevalence of arterial hypertension in Serbia: PAHIS study.

Background: Arterial hypertension (AH) is the most common cardiovascular disease risk factor, affecting between 30 and 50% of the adult population in developed countries. A steady increase of the prevalence of AH by about 60% is expected by year 2025.

Methods: Serbian Society of Hypertension conducted a prevalence study from February to May 2012 on a sample of 3878 adult respondents. The study included 2066 women (53.3%) and 1812 men (46.7%). Average age was 48.89 ± 17.48 years. Most participants resided in urban areas (2956 people, 76.2%), whereas 922 resided in rural areas (23.8%).

Results: The prevalence of AH in Serbia is 42.7%. Hypertension is more frequently diagnosed among women (53.3%), than among men (46.7%). One thousand, four hundred and twelve respondents were previously diagnosed and treated for hypertension. The estimated awareness of the presence of AH was 42.99% (i.e. 40.00% among male and 45.41% among female participants). Out of all diagnosed cases of hypertension, 390 persons (27.7%) have well regulated blood pressure values, whereas 1022 persons (72.3%) do not have their blood pressure under control.

Conclusion: Serbia belongs to countries with a high prevalence of AH. A poor control of AH may be explained in view of socioeconomic problems. High prevalence of AH may indicate a remarkably high cardiovascular disease mortality in Serbia.