Pre-hypertension, hypertension and associated factors in dental patients: a cross-sectional study in Santa Maria-RS, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in Brazil and in the world population.OBJECTIVE: Assess the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension, associated factors and adherence to antihypertensive therapy in a sample of dental patients of a private dentistry school in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.MATERIAL AND METHOD: The participants of this study were 250 patients of both genders, aged over 18 years. Demographic data, history of hypertension and other systemic diseases, information about the use of antihypertensive drugs and smoking were obtained, and anthropometric measurements were performed. Adherence to treatment was evaluated by Morisky-Green test. Three blood pressure measurements were made by a dentist, and the average of the last two measurements was used in this analysis.RESULT: The mean age of patients was 46.6 (±13.8) years. Thirty percent had prehypertension and 36% had hypertension. Of these hypertensive patients, 28.9% were unaware of their hypertensive condition. Hypertension was statistically associated with increasing age (p<0.001) and diabetes (p=0.009). Among patients on antihypertensive treatment, 58.1% were non-adherent, whilst 41.9% had no controlled blood pressure.CONCLUSION: In the present study we observed a high prevalence of prehypertension and undiagnosed hypertension, as well as high rate of uncontrolled disease. These results point to the importance of blood pressure measurements during dental visits.