Proportion of recipients of antihypertensive drugs
High blood pressure or arterial hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases, which mainly include cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke, and is also a risk factor for kidney diseases. Chronic non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death and premature mortality in Slovenia and in the world. It is known that high blood pressure and the increase in blood pressure with age are significantly influenced by an unhealthy lifestyle. Excessive salt consumption plays the most important role here, as sodium in the diet has been proven to be a direct risk factor for high blood pressure, insufficient consumption of vegetables and fruits, excessive alcohol consumption, excess body weight and obesity, and insufficient physical activity. These are risk factors that are significantly present among the inhabitants of Slovenia and are related to the socio-economic situation. Developed countries have begun to reduce the consequences of arterial hypertension in the population with successful public health policies and multisectoral action aimed at reducing the amount of salt in the diet and by enabling diagnostics and wider access to the detection and treatment of arterial hypertension and its risk factors. The local community can also contribute to these measures by promoting timely detection of elevated blood pressure and enabling conditions for improving the behavioral style of the residents.
The share of blood pressure-lowering medication recipients describes the number of blood pressure-lowering medication recipients per 100 inhabitants in the observed calendar year.
An age-standardized proportion is calculated, which allows mutual comparison of populations with different age structures.
Rate per 100 inhabitants.
The proportion of recipients of antihypertensive medication is the ratio between the number of persons who received at least one prescription for antihypertensive medication within the observed calendar year and the number of all residents in the middle of the same year, multiplied by 100.
In the calculation, drugs from the Anatomical-therapeutic-chemical classification of drugs of groups are taken into account as drugs for lowering blood pressure:
C02: Antihypertensives.
C03: Diuretics.
C04: Peripheral vasodilators.
C07: Beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists.
C08: Calcium channel blockers.
C09: Medicines acting on the renin-angiotensin system.
Recipients of medication for high blood pressure
The direct standardization method is used for standardization, where the Slovenian population from 2014 is used as the standard population.
Outpatient Prescription Drug Database, National Institute of Public Health.
Population, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
Data are published annually.
- National Institute of Public Health ( http://www.nijz.si/ )
- Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia ( http://www.stat.si/StatWeb )
- Borovničar A. Arterial hypertension. In: Tomšič S. et al. (ed.) Challenges in improving behavioral style and health - A decade of CINDI research in Slovenia. ( http://www.nijz.si/files/publikacije-datoteke/izzivi_desetletje_cindi_14.pdf )
Recipients of drugs to lower blood pressure do not represent all people with high blood pressure
pressure. Some patients with high blood pressure manage their disease with non-drug measures such as diet and lifestyle changes. If a person with high blood pressure does not receive at least one prescription for a drug to lower blood pressure, he is not included in the calculation of the indicator. Some of the drugs included are also used to treat other diseases.