Management of hypertension in France - Data issued from a survey conductedin the French regions

A survey was conducted in 14 regional samples of general practitioners (GPs ) included in Gallup-up poll. 2,423 GPs contributed to the study and had to include all patients >18 years old over a period of one week. Patients wer e considered hypertensives if the mean of two recorded BP measurements was greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg and/or <140/90 mmHg if they were under antihypertensive treatment. Hypertensives were considered as controlled if there BP levels were overall <140/90 mmHg under 90 treatment. The risk fac tors associated with hypertension were collected in order to evaluate the c ardiovascular risk, according to 1999 ISH-OMS recommendations. 156470 patients recruited by 2423 GPs were included in the study representi ng 14 different French regions: Ile-de-France I (1), Ile-de-France II (2), Ile-de-France-Pays-de-la-Loire (3), Bretagne (4), Normandie-Picardie (5), N ord-Pas-de-Calais (6), Alsace-Lorraine (7), Bourgogne-Franche Comte (8), Rh ones-Alpes (9), Provence-Cote d'Azur (10), Languedoc-Provence (11), Limousi n-Auvergne (12), Midi-Pyrenees (13), Aquitaine (14). Among 70,073 hypertensives, 23,054 had never received antihypertensive trea tment, and 32,059 (47%) had a high or a very high cardiovascular risk. 67% of hypertensives (47,019) were treated, and 32.8% of treated hypertensives (15,422) had a BP<140/90 mmHg. The study illustrated few differences in prevalence and control of hyperten sion in the different French regions: BP control at the 140/90 mmHg thresho ld vary from 28.5 to 36.6% among treated hypertensives and % of patients at high cardiovascular risk from 42.1% (South-France) to 49.7% (East-France).