Hypertension and target organ damage in cardiometabolic patients

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is a disease that decreases quality of life and expectancy. The overall risk is higher when HTN is associated with other cardiovascular risk factors. Objectives: To learn the prevalence and level of control of HTN, and its association with metabolic syndrome and target organ damage. Materials and methods: Descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study. Sample: 2936 consecutive patients between January 2006 and September 2021. The frequency of metabolic syndrome and its interaction with sex, age, blood pressure, anthropometric variables, lipid profile, albuminuria, glomerular filtration rate, and left ventricular hypertrophy were determined. Statistics: Student's t-test and chi-squared test. Statistical significance was considered p<0.05. Results: 11.5% of the patients presented metabolic syndrome. Mean age 53.4 +/- 16.4 years, and 52.7% were female; 47.2% knew they were hypertensive with average values 149.4+24.4/84.2+13 mmHg, significantly higher in the presence of metabolic syndrome (p<0.0005). Men presented metabolic syndrome more frequently than women (54.3% vs. 45.7%). Patients with metabolic syndrome had more frequently family history of diabetes mellitus 26.1%, and target organ damage: calculated glomerular filtration rate 67.9 +/- 51.6 ml/min/1.73m2 vs 89.2 +/- 34.4 ml/min/1.73m2 (p<0.0005), albuminuria (85.2 +/- 20.4 mg/g creatinine vs. 8.3 +/- 21.4 mg/g creatinine; p<0.0005) and Cornell product (1368 +/- 673 mv/sec vs. 1190 +/- 666 mv/sec, p<0.025). Conclusion: one in ten ambulatory patients presented metabolic syndrome, their average blood pressure values were high, and they presented a more significant structural and functional renal damage and left ventricular overload.