Cardiovascular Risk Profile in 14???513 Patients with Essential Hypertension Followed by Italian Specialist Physicians

Background: Recent data clearly demonstrated that in Western countries control of blood pressure and modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in the hypertensive population is rather poor and far from being satisfactory. Aim: The Observational Pressure Survey (OPS) was planned to assess control of blood pressure and the major modifiable risk factors within a large Italian hypertensive population, aged ≥ 60 years, followed by hypertension specialists. Results: Systolic blood pressure was controlled below 140mm Hg in only 30.2% of males and 29.9% of females, while diastolic blood pressure was controlled below 90mm Hg in 63.9% of males and 67.8% of females. According to the most recent classification of the European guidelines on hypertension, only 4.8% of the patients had optimal to normal control, whereas 9.7% had high-normal level of blood pressure, and 70% had grade 1-3 hypertension, despite treatment. Also, the control of cardiovascular modifiable risk factors associated with hypertension appeared rather poor in the study. In particular, total cholesterol levels were found to be