Hypertension control in a community health centre at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the degree of control of hypertension and the most commonly used drugs for hyertensive patients attending our community health center. Methods: A cross sectional study carried out by randomly examining the case notes of patients attending our primary care clinics. Results: Case notes of 3747 patients were examined, 2064 (55%) females (mean age 23.76 years) and 1683 (45%) males (mean age 24.63 years). Prevalence of hypertension was 3% (108 patients), 3% (63 patients) and 3% (45 patients) for females and males respectively. Majority of patients 16 (35%) males and 32 (51%) females had blood pressure of 141-160/90-100 mmHg. Seventeen (37%) males and 15 (24%) female patients had blood pressure < 140/90 mm Hg. Among 108 hypertensive patients, 29 (65%) males and 44 (69%) females were on single drug. The most commonly used drugs were ACE inhibitors (35%), calcium channel blockers (17.5%) and beta- blockers (14%). Conclusion: This study like some other studies shows that control of hypertension falls short of recommended goals. There is need to adopt a strategy that incorporates health education about life style and proper protocol as this has been found useful in other studies.