[Prevalence of hypertension and its treatment in a population of 26,374 workers]

Abstract

The control of hypertension requires large scale epidemiological studies to determine the prevalence of the disease and to evaluate the results of therapeutic intervention. This study was based on the examination of 26,374 salaried adult patients during a 12 months period in the Tarn-et-Garonne Regional Industrial Medecine Service. The results of this study showed: 1) the prevalence of hypertension defined as greater than 165/95 mmHg was 5.9%; 2) of the 1,552 hypertensive subjects, 84% had been diagnosed previously and 74% were under treatment of which 71% were controlled. In other terms, only 44% of hypertensive subjects had normal blood pressures; 3) there was a male predominance up to the age of 55 and then the hypertensive patients tended to be women. Paradoxically, men were less treated and less well controlled, especially the young men; 4) from the therapeutic point of view, 80% of hypertensive patients were treated by monotherapy, whether the hypertension was controlled or not, which would seem to be inadequate.