Abstract

Objectives

To assess in the Italian general adult population the trends of blood pressure (BP) and prevalence of raised BP (RBP), hypertension and its control in order to evaluate population health and care, and the achievement of an RBP 25% relative reduction as recommended by the WHO at population level.

Design

Results comparison of health examination surveys, cross-sectional observational studies based on health examination of randomly selected age and sex stratified samples including residents aged 35–74 years. Data of the 2018/2019 survey were compared with the previous ones collected in 1998/2002 and 2008/2012.

Setting

Health examination surveys conducted in Italy within the CUORE Project following standardised methodologies.

Participants

2985 men and 2955 women examined in 1998/2002, 2218 men and 2204 women examined in 2008/2012 and 1031 men and 1066 women examined in 2018/2019.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Age-standardised mean of BP, prevalence of RBP (systolic BP and/or diastolic BP ≥140/90 mm Hg), hypertension (presenting or being treated for RBP) and its awareness and control, according to sex, age class and educational level.

Results

In 2018/2019, a significant reduction was observed in systolic BP and diastolic BP in men (1998/2002: 136/86 mm Hg; 2008/2012: 132/84 mm Hg; and 2018/2019: 132/78 mm Hg) and women (132/82 mm Hg, 126/78 mm Hg and 122/73 mm Hg), and in the prevalence of RBP (50%, 40% and 30% in men and 39%, 25% and 16% in women) and of hypertension (54%, 49% and 44% in men and 45%, 35% and 32% in women). Trends were consistent by age and education attainment. In 2018/2019, hypertensive men and women with controlled BP were only 27% and 41%, but a significant favourable trend was observed.

Conclusions

Data from 2018/2019 underlined that RBP is still commonly observed in the Italian population aged 35–74 years, however, the WHO RBP target at that time may be considered met.

Details

Title
Trends of blood pressure, raised blood pressure, hypertension and its control among Italian adults: CUORE Project cross-sectional health examination surveys 1998/2008/2018
Author
Donfrancesco, Chiara 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Anna Di Lonardo 1 ; Cinzia Lo Noce 1 ; Buttari, Brigitta 1 ; Profumo, Elisabetta 1 ; Vespasiano, Francesca 2 ; Vannucchi, Serena 1 ; Galletti, Ferruccio 3 ; Onder, Graziano 1 ; Gulizia, Michele Massimo 4 ; Galeone, Daniela 5 ; Bellisario, Paolo 5 ; Palmieri, Luigi 1 

1  Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-Metabolic Diseases and Aging, Istituto Superiore di Sanita’, Rome, Italy 
2  National Transplant Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanita’, Rome, Italy 
3  Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Napoli, Italy 
4  National Enterprise of National Relevance and High Specialization ‘Garibaldi-Nesima Hospital’, Catania, Italy; Heart Care Foundation, Florence, Italy 
5  Italian Ministry of Health, Roma, Italy 
First page
e064270
Section
Epidemiology
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group LTD
e-ISSN
20446055
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-064270
ProQuest document ID
2736462903
Copyright
© 2022 Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See:  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ . Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.