Characterization of the patients in a outpatient clinic of hypertension at one municipality of Risaralda, Colombia, 2005-2012

Objectives: To describe the characteristics of patients evaluated at the consult of high blood pressure (HBP) of the Hospital San Vicente de Paúl of Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia, attended during the period 2005-2012. Study design: Observational, descriptive, retrospective study. Study area: Hospital San Vicente de Paúl of Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia. Patients: Population attended at the program of detection of HBP with suspect of disease that was admitted to the consult of HBP of the Hospital. Measurements: Different demographical and clinical variables were evaluated, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, weight, height and body mass index, among others. Results: From 6030 patients, 62.5% were found with overweight/obesity (64.7% in females and 57.4% in males, OR=1.363; 95%CI 1.217-1.527) (74.7% in those 20-59 years-old and 53.2% in ≥60 years-old, OR=2.597; 95%CI 2.326-2.899). For the blood pressure, 95.5% (95%CI 95.010-96.068) presented prehypertension/HBP values, being higher in those 20-59 years-old (89.4%) than in those ≥60 years-old (81.2%)(OR=1.961; 95%CI 1.686-2.278). Conclusion: Current study allowed to characterize the patients population that attended the HBP service of the reference hospital at the municipality during more than 6 years; from this one there are no previous studies and this shown a considerable proportion of the population with blood pressure alterations as well also high values of BMI, being remarkable the significant predominance among those 20-59 years-old, compared to those 60 and above, possibly linked to factors such as services demand as well cultural and nutritional issues.