Arterial hypertension diagnostic and drug therapy failure among Brazilian elderly - FIBRA Study

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.