Chinese study: Hypertension treatment effective

Blood pressure can be successfully controlled in up to 84 percent of cases, Chinese researchers say, but some 40 percent are unaware of their condition. Lead investigator Dr. Yujia Liang of West China Hospital, Sichuan University in Chengdu said the Chinese cross-sectional study of almost 3,000 hypertensive patients treated at a community health centre in Yulin, Chengdu, China, showed current recommendations for treating hypertension can be highly successful. "The Yulin CHC in Chengdu, China, is geographically close to a tertiary referral hospital -- West China Hospital -- and more importantly, has signed agreements on reciprocal patient referral, healthcare professional training and population study. It has its own pharmacy, biochemistry lab, family medicine clinic, day care bed and health promotion unit, and was selected as a sample center for chronic non-communicable disease management in China," Liang said in a statement. However, a report by the World Health Organization found of those who have hypertension in China, 40 percent were unaware of their condition, 50 percent were receiving no medication and about 80 percent were not controlling it well. The findings are being discussed at the 24th Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology & Asia Pacific Heart Congress meeting in Beijing this weekend and were presented at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam. The hypertension guidelines emphasized lifestyle factors, lack of patient and physician awareness, and physician "inertia" were significant contributors to hypertension, while the guidelines on diabetes with cardiovascular disease emphasized lifestyle modification and glucose control as well as careful management of hypertension, the researchers said.