May Measurement Month 2021: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Bulgaria
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease is not only the leading cause of mortality in Bulgaria, but the associated mortality rate is twice the European Union average, so screening programmes that identify subjects with elevated blood pressure (BP) are of utmost importance. May Measurement Month (MMM) is an annual global initiative that began in 2017 that aims to raise awareness of high BP. Bulgaria first joined the third campaign of MMM in 2019, and an overview of the results of Bulgarian participation in MMM21 is presented in this paper. Hypertension was defined as receiving BP-lowering medications or having a systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg. Statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Bulgaria, 155 screening sites were set up in primary and secondary care facilities, in pharmacies, and outdoor spaces across 16 administrative districts. Out of 3908 individuals screened, 2896 participants (74.1%) had hypertension. Of 2896 participants with hypertension, 76.4% were on treatment of whom 48.5% had controlled BP (<140/90 mmHg). Out of 1696 participants not on antihypertensive medication, 684 (40.3%) had elevated BP. Men were found to have higher rates of undiagnosed hypertension and lower rates of control than women. By identifying almost two-thirds of the whole screened cohort with the possibility of newly diagnosed or uncontrolled hypertension, our results confirm the importance of BP screening.
Date Issued
2024-06
Date Acceptance
2024-07-01
Citation
European Heart Journal Supplements, 2024, 26 (Supplement 3), pp.iii20-iii22
ISSN
1520-765X
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Start Page
iii20
End Page
iii22
Journal / Book Title
European Heart Journal Supplements
Volume
26
Issue
Supplement 3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for
reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for
further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for
reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for
further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39055575
Subjects
Blood pressure
Bulgaria
Control
Hypertension
Screening
Treatment
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
suae040
Date Publish Online
2024-07-24