Behandeling van hypertensie bij vrouwen en mannen

Objective

To investigate sex differences in the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in primary care.

Design

Cross-sectional study among 14,384 patients with hypertension from the Julius General Practitioners’ Network, without cardiovascular disease or diabetes, treated with antihypertensive medications.

Methods

We compared men and women in the number and type of prescribed antihypertensives and their blood pressure.

Results

Women (n=8596) and men (n=5788) were prescribed the same number of antihypertensive agents on average (1.8). Women received lower dosages, more often beta-blockers (35% vs. 26%, p<0.001) and diuretics (54% vs. 51%, p<0.001), but less often ACE inhibitors (35% vs. 46%, p<0.001) and calcium channel blockers (29% vs. 36%, p<0.001). Blood pressure control was more often achieved in women than in men (50% vs. 46%, p<0.001).

Conclusion

Although current guidelines do not distinguish between sexes, differences exist in the type and dosage of antihypertensives prescribed, and in the rate of blood pressure control.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.