PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 393 - 14 Dec 2002

Hypertension management stillsuboptimal in Europe

The management of hypertension in patients withtype 1 diabetes mellitus across Europe has improvedover recent years, report researchers from theEURODIAB Prospective Complications Study Group.However, "optimal levels of treatment and BP controlhave not been achieved", note the researchers.

They examined changes in hypertension treatmentand control for 1866 patients with type 1 diabetes from14 European countries* over a 7-year period (baseline1989/1990 and follow-up 1997/1999). The studyshowed that hypertension treatment improvedconsiderably over the study period. The proportion ofpatients treated with antihypertensive agents increasedsignificantly, from 40% at baseline to 69% at follow-up;logistic regression analysis showed that this increasewas independent of the ageing of the cohort. In addition,a significant increase was observed over the studyperiod in the use of ACE inhibitors (from 57% to 82% ofpatients) and a significant increase in the use of multipledrugs (from 19% to 33%).

The proportion of patients achieving control ofhypertension, defined as a systolic BP < 130mm Hg anda diastolic BP < 85mm Hg, also improved over the7-year period, from 32% to 41%. However, afterallowing for the ageing effect, logistic regression analysis"showed that there was no significant increase in thecontrol of hypertension over time", note the researchers.* Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland andThe Netherlands

Soedamah-Muthu SS, et al. Trends in hypertension management in Type I diabetesacross Europe, 1989/1990 - 1997/1999. Diabetologia 45: 1362-1371, Oct2002 800924580

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 14 Dec 2002 No. 3931173-5503/10/0393-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved