Cascade of care for hypertension among apparently healthy and unhealthy individuals of 25-64 years in the Czech...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Cardiology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Hypertension remains a global health challenge, with many unaware of their diagnosis or untreated.
• Absence of comorbidities is linked to lower hypertension awareness and treatment rates.
• Limited research exists on hypertension prevalence and management in apparently healthy individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control across different health groups: apparently healthy, internal diseases, and non-internal diseases.
• To identify disparities in hypertension care cascade within the Czech population.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from the Czech European Health Examination Survey 2014 and Czech European Health Interview Survey 2014.
• Inclusion of participants aged 25-64 with standardized blood pressure measurements.
• Statistical analysis using chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression, with data weighted for sex and age.

Main Results:

• Hypertension prevalence was highest in the internal disease group (52.4%) compared to healthy (32.8%) and non-internal disease groups (29.8%).
• Awareness and treatment rates were significantly lower in the healthy group (54.1% and 44.2%) versus the internal disease group (85.2% and 86.4%).
• Despite lower awareness and treatment, hypertension control did not differ significantly across groups.

Conclusions:

• Significant discordance in hypertension management exists within the Czech population.
• Apparently healthy individuals exhibit the lowest hypertension awareness and highest undertreatment rates.
• Targeted interventions are needed to improve hypertension detection and management in seemingly healthy populations.