Description of elderly patients with antihypertensive pharmacological treatment attended to at the “Dr. León Cuervo Rubio” Hospital

Background: the antihypertensive medication of elderly patients deserves a strict control, which guarantees an adequate maintenance of the health status of this population group.Objective: to describe the elderly patients with antihypertensive treatment attended to at the "Dr. León Cuervo Rubio" Hospital of Pinar del Río, between July 2015 and December 2016.Methods: an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out at the aforementioned institution and during the period of time herein declared. Out of the 1359 assisted patients, a sample of 594 patients was selected. The following variables were measured: age, sex, associated risk factors, time of progress of the disease, treatment modality, antihypertensive medications, treatment adhesion, and polypharmacy, among others. The data were processed according to descriptive statistics.Results: there was a prevalence of the female sex (58,08 %) and the 60 to 69 age group (54,04 %). Diabetes mellitus represented the predominant chronic concomitant disease (35,86 %), while alcoholism and sedentary lifestyle were the main associated risk factors. The mostly used therapeutic modality was the combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment (96,46 %). Polypharmacy was present in 74,35 % of the sample, while 12,04 % had an inadequate prescription. The antihypertensive drugs most commonly used were captopril, chlorthalidone and enalapril, in that order. The angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor drug class was the most widely used.Conclusions: the hypertensive elderly patients of the study sample were described, which showed a low prevalence of inappropriate prescription and normal polypharmacy values.