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Evaluation of hypertension control in Greek primary care units. The VANK study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 17, pages 297–298 (2003)Cite this article

The study of Cuspidi et al1 investigated the diagnostic approach and evaluated the level of blood pressure control in recently diagnosed hypertensive patients by primary care physicians in Italy. Only 18.7% of the patients who were on antihypertensive treatment had blood pressure (BP) values lower than 140/90 mmHg. However, another study of Cuspidi et al2 showed that effective BP control (<140/90 mmHg) during the long-term follow-up in hypertensive patients, who were managed in a hyper132;tension hospital clinic, rose from 40.1 to 46.7%. Additionally, this trend was associated with a significant regression in ECG LVH (8.6 to 5.1%). This difference in BP control between primary care and hospital clinic could be explained by the inadequate3 knowledge level of the hyper132;tension guidelines by primary care physicians in Italy.

There are only few data about the prevalence awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Greek patients (general population).4,5,6 Also, information about the level of control of hyper132;tension in primary care is limited. The VANK study in General Practice is a multicentre, cross-sectional survey, which was carried out in order to determine the prevalence of hypertension and the levels of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in Primary Care. The survey included 1507 different subjects, 770 (51.09%) men and 737 (48.9%) women who visited the Health Centers of Vlachioti (V), Astros (A), Nemea (N) and Kalavrita (K) from 1 January/February 2001 to 31 March 2001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nemea Medical Center, Nemea, Greece

    E A Skliros, A Sotiropoulos & G Giannakaki

  2. Clinic of Social and Family Medicine University of Crete, Greece

    E A Skliros

  3. Vlachioti Medical Center, Greece

    A Vasibossis

  4. Astros Medical Center, Greece

    P Loumakis

  5. Klitoria Medical Center, Greece

    N Razis

Authors
  1. E A Skliros
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  2. A Vasibossis
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  3. P Loumakis
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  4. A Sotiropoulos
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  5. G Giannakaki
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  6. N Razis
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Correspondence to E A Skliros.

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Skliros, E., Vasibossis, A., Loumakis, P. et al. Evaluation of hypertension control in Greek primary care units. The VANK study. J Hum Hypertens 17, 297–298 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001540

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001540

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