Poor Blood Pressure Control
Seen Across N. America
Excerpt By Emma Hitt, PhD, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Canada may be faring slightly worse than America in controlling the high blood pressure of its population, but both countries need improvement, according to researchers who compared data from the two countries.

``Given the quality and ease of access to our healthcare system, I did not expect Canada to be worse than the US in all the areas of hypertension: awareness, treatment level and overall control,'' study leader Dr. Michel R. Joffres of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, told Reuters Health.

Joffres' team compared two studies, one Canadian and one from the US, both of which collected blood pressure information from several thousand people between the ages of 18 and 74.

For their analysis, a person was considered to have high blood pressure, or hypertension, if their reading was greater than 140/90 mm Hg or if they were taking medication to control high blood pressure.

According to the two studies, about one in five Canadians and Americans had high blood pressure. But compared with Americans, fewer Canadians had an optimal blood pressure, defined as less than 120/80 mm Hg. In addition, only 13% of Canadians with high blood pressure had the problem under control, compared with 25% of Americans.

The investigators also found that about half of diabetic study participants had high blood pressure, but only 9% of these patients in Canada had it under control compared with 36% in the US.

Joffres and colleagues point out the systolic blood pressure reading--the higher of the two blood pressure numbers--is especially important and can be a predictor of stroke, heart attack and death.

``We have almost neglected this important measure in the past...and have focused mainly on the diastolic blood pressure for defining hypertension and the level of control,'' Joffres said. ``We still need to get this important message about systolic blood pressure control across to physicians and the public.''

According to the researchers, the systolic but not the diastolic reading was high in 8% to 9% of individuals in both studies. The percentage of young Canadians with a high systolic reading was larger than that for young Americans.

Joffres noted that while the studies are a few years old, ''unfortunately, we now have evidence that we have not improved in the last years, neither in Canada nor the US.''

The researcher added, ``For people who have high blood pressure, there is a simple message: 'you want to have your blood pressure under control.' People with diabetes must be even more careful with their level of blood pressure.''

SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension 2001;14:1099-1105.

Reference Source 89

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