Hypertension and Dyslipidaemia in Argentina: Patient Journey Stages

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) leads to one-third of all deaths in Argentina. To implement patient-centric strategies for reducing CVD burden, available data on hypertension and hypercholesterolemia patients at different stages of their journey: awareness, screening, diagnosis, treatment, adherence, and control were analysed. A semi-systematic review in peer-reviewed databases (EMBASE and MEDLINE) and unstructured sources such as Google Scholar, Argentine Ministry of Health, and World Health Organization websites was conducted till 06.07.2021 for hypertension and dyslipidemia. English articles published in 2010-2021, depicting patient journey data for hypertension or hypercholesterolemia of the nationally representative adult population of Argentina were included. Thesis abstracts, letters to the editor, editorials, and case studies were excluded. No limits were used for unstructured sources. Weighted or simple means were estimated for patient journey stages. Out of 296 and 1257 articles retrieved for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, respectively, five articles were retained for each of the conditions. The estimates for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, respectively, were 46.6% and 30.7% for prevalence, 61.6% and 37.3% for awareness, 97.5% and ≥80% for screening, 64.1% and 28.9% for diagnosis, and 49.7% and 36.6% for treatment, and 19.9% and 20% for overall control. Adherence data were not available for hypercholesterolemia, while the same for hypertension was 50.4%. Various determinants are responsible for low adherence such as patient-level barriers, physician-related barriers, and health system-related issues. The review reveals that hypertension and hypercholesterolemia are poorly controlled in Argentina. Although further studies with more accurate data are needed to confirm these results, they should alert the medical community and the public health institutions to take urgent corrective actions.