Prevalence, awareness, management of hypertension and association with metabolic abnormalities: the Maracaibo city metabolic syndrome prevalence study

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and epidemiologic behavior of Hypertension (HT) in the Maracaibo Municipality, Zulia state, Venezuela. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, where 2,230 subjects from both genders were randomly selected as part of the Maracaibo city Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence Study (MMSPS). Complete medical examination, laboratory workup and anthropometry measurements were taken. The quantitative variables were expressed as mean±SD, and comparisons were calculated using t Student test. The qualitative variables were represented as absolute and relative frequencies, and comparisons were obtained using Z test for proportions and associations with c2 test. Results: The prevalence of HT was 19.42% (20.92% in women and 17.75% in men). The prevalence of newly diagnosed individuals was 12.0%, with 8.71% in women and 16.90% in men. The overall percentage of HT was 32.02%, being 29.63% in women and 34.65% in men. Several variables were associated with HT, such as glycemic status (χ2=64.97, p<0.001), insulin resistance (c2=25.58, p<0.001) and body mass index (c2=209.952, p<0.0001). Clinical control of blood pressure was observed in 44.7% of treated and 56.6% of untreated subjects. The most frequent anti-hypertensive drugs were: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors with (n=105), Beta-Blockers (n=97) and Angiotensin Receptor II Blockers (n=32). Conclusion: Even though elevated numbers of AHT are observed in our population combined with low clinical control of blood pressure, there is a lower prevalence of AHT compared to other studies at regional, national or international levels.