The prevalence and treatment of hypertension in the elderly population of the Mexican Institute of Social Security

Objective.To assess the prevalence and treatment of high blood pressure amo ng elderly people in Mexico. Material and Methods.A cross-sectional study w as conducted from February to July 1998 among the elderly people covered by the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) healthcare services in Mex ico City.The study population consisted of 4 777 subjects aged 60 years and over, selected from a cohort of 5 433 people, representative of the popula tion of Mexico City.Trained nurses carried out three blood pressure measure ments at home. Diagnosis of high blood pressure was established if systolic pressure was equal to or higher than 160 mmHg, and/or diastolic pressure w as equal or higher than 90 mmHg, or by self-report of a medical diagnosis o f hypertension. Demographic and risk factor information was also collected. Results. A total of 4 777 subjects were screened; 2 036 (43%) of them repo rted that they had been previously diagnosed as hypertensive. Of these, 1 9 54 (96%) were already on pharmacological treatment. A further 273 (5.7%) su bjects were found to be hypertensive at screening. Among those receiving tr eatment, 1 399 (68.5%) had a blood pressure reading of less than 160/90 mmH g, and this was also the case for 59 (72%) of the known hypertensives not o n treatment. A single drug was used by 1 556 (79.6%) of those on treatment. Risk factors for hypertension were more frequent in the hypertensive group (p pound0.05). Conclusions. Almost half of the elderly population is hyper tensive, most of them are already on treatment, but about one third of thos e on treatment do not have an adequate control of high blood pressure.The E nglish version of this paper is available too at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/ index.html.