[Control of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with stroke attended in primary care in Spain. ICTUSCARE study]. / Control de los factores de riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes con ictus atendidos en Atención Primaria en España. Estudio ICTUSCARE.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this cross-sectional, multicenter survey was: 1) To investigate the level of control of cardiovascuar risk factors in patients with a previous stroke. 2) To know the pharmacological therapy used to attain the control. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data obtained from a total of 955 patients were included in the analysis.. There were evaluated cardiovascular risk factors, parameters related to the degree of control, analytical parameters, antropometric and pharmacological indicated treatment. RESULTS: The majority (61%) had suffered an ischemic stroke and 97.7% presented at least one associated cardiovascular risk factor, being hypertension (84.8%) and dyslipidemia (61.8%) the most frequent. Other factors were abdominal obesity (42.9%), diabetes mellitus (35.6%) and smoking (25.1%). Only 1.2% of the patients presented an adequate control of all cardiovascular risk factors. Only 17.6% had a well controlled blood pressure and in 29.8% LDL-cholesterol was well controlled. In 50.2% of diabetic patients HbA1c was well controlled. Angiotensin receptor blockers were the most widely used antihypertensive drugs (57.6%) while thiazide diuretics were prescribed in 33.4%. Statins were prescribed in 72.8% of patients and metformin, aspirin and acenocumarol in 30.2%, 57.3%, and 15.0% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, in patients with a past history of stroke arterial hypertension is the most common cardiovascular risk factor and the control of these factors requires an improvement.

[New therapeutic strategies to improve control of arterial hypertension and simplify the regimen of drug treatment]. / Nuevas estrategias terapéuticas para mejorar el control de la hipertensión arterial y simplificar la pauta de tratamiento farmacológico.

Hypertension is a public health problem of first magnitude, because of its high prevalence and the associated increase in cardiovascular and renal complications. For this reason, achieving adequate pressure control in a high percentage of patients is a priority for any health system. In our country there have been numerous studies examining the degree of control of hypertension. The percentage of patients achieving adequate control has increased progressively, but the margin of improvement is still very important. Among the factors that have contributed to this improved control is the use of antihypertensive drugs in combination, free or fixed. This article reviews the progress made in controlling hypertension, in which the combined use of antihypertensive drugs has played a key role and future therapeutic options to further improve the pressure control, with special attention to the fixed combination three antihypertensive drugs.

[Relevance of chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular prognosis in arterial hypertension]. / Relevancia de la insuficiencia renal en el pronóstico cardiovascular de los pacientes con hipertensión arterial esencial.

Recently published guidelines recognize the relevance of the finding of chronic kidney disease in the stratification of risk of the hypertensive patient. Determination of the presence of microalbuminuria and estimation of glomerular filtration rate are mandatory in order to ensure an adequate evaluation of global cardiovascular risks in the hypertensive patient. The presence of subtle elevations of serum creatinine concentrations and/or proteinuria are also potent predictors of a poor cardiovascular prognosis. Clustering of associated risk factors seems to justify the elevated cardiovascular risk observed in patients with essential hypertension and mild alterations of renal function.