CAUSES OF UNCONTROLLED BLOOD PRESSURE IN THE OVER-65 POPULATION

Introduction: hypertension is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and the prevalence of hypertension shows a linear increase with aging so that it increases by 10 percent every 10 years. this study was conducted to investigate the causes of uncontrolled blood pressure in people aged over 65 years.methods: this descriptive case-control study was conducted at isfahan amin hospital in 2003 on two-hundred over-65 subjects diagnosed with hypertension through a routine travel check-up for mecca pilgrimage. after medical examinations and blood pressure measurement according to who standards, the subjects were divided into a case group (controlled blood pressure) and a control group (uncontrolled blood pressure), respectively. a questionnaire was filled in for each subject and the data were analyzed with ÷2 and t-student test.results: the case and control groups had mean ages of 70.7±5.2 and 69.5±4.9 years, respectively. in the case group, less than half of the subjects were taking their antihypertensive medications regularly and 12.5% engaged in self-therapy. fifty-five percent of subjects in the case group expressed a lack of motivation as the reason for discontinuing therapy. their knowledge and practice were also found to be significantly lower than the control group (p<0.05).discussion: in comparison with other studies, it was observed that the most common causes of uncontrolled blood pressure are poor knowledge, inappropriate practice in avoiding risk factors, and the discontinuation of pharmaceutical antihypertensive therapy.