Arterial hypertension diagnostic and drug therapy failure among brazilian elderly – FIBRA study

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of failure in hypertension diagnosis, antihypertensive drug use and drug therapy efficacy and the association of these parameters with sociodemographic, health-related and access to health services variables in community-dwelling elderly. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with 3,478 elderly from different Brazilian regions. We used Pearson’s chi-square test to verify associations between outcomes and independent variables, and Poisson multiple regression to estimate crude and adjusted prevalence ratios. Of the total, 29.6% of the elderly evidenced failure in the diagnosis, 4.6% in the use of antihypertensives and 65.3% in drug efficacy. Diagnostic failure was associated with males, presence of morbidity, having a partner, white skin color/ethnicity, having access to the health covenant or private health service, with low/medium personal income and working. Antihypertensive use failure was associated with low/medium personal income and work. Hypertension management failures are prevalent in community-dwelling elderly. There is a need for actions that minimize the negative impact of these health shortcomings, in a country burdened by social, economic and ethnic differences.