Prepared by: Aleš Korošec 
Date of last change: September 2016

Purpose and justification of the indicator

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.

Definition of indicator

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.

Unit of measure

Calculation of the indicator

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
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The direct standardization method is used for standardization, where the Slovenian population from 2014 is used as the standard population.

Data sources for Slovenia

Outpatient Prescription Drug Database, National Institute of Public Health.
Population, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.

Time availability

Men in literature

<ol>
<li>National Institute of Public Health ( <a href="http://www.nijz.si/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nijz.si/</a> )</li>
<li>Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia ( <a href="http://www.stat.si/StatWeb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.stat.si/StatWeb</a> )</li>
<li>Borovničar A. Arterial hypertension. In: Tom&scaron;ič S. et al. (ed.) Challenges in improving behavioral style and health - A decade of CINDI research in Slovenia. ( <a href="http://www.nijz.si/files/publikacije-datoteke/izzivi_desetletje_cindi_14.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nijz.si/files/publikacije-datoteke/izzivi_desetletje_cindi_14.pdf</a> )</li>
</ol>

Notes

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.

Health status

Prepared by: Metka Zaletel 
Date of last modification: September 2016

Residents and community

Prepared by: Mojca Simončič and Metka Zaletel 
Date of last change: January 2018

Prepared by: Mojca Simončič and Metka Zaletel 
Date of last change: September 2016

Prepared by: Mojca Simončič 
Date of last change: March 2017

Prepared by: Gregor Starc 
Date of last modification: September 2016

Health risk factors

Prepared by: Gregor Starc, Kristina Orožen 
Date of last change: September 2016

Prepared by: Tina Lesnik 
Date of last change: March 2021

Prepared by: Andreja Belščak 
Date of last change: September 2016

Prepared by: Mateja Rok Simon and Tina Zupanič 
Date of last change: March 2017

Prepared by: Metka Zaletel 
Date of last modification: March 2019

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek 
Date of last change: March 2021

Prepared by: Martin Ranfl, Jona Bambič 
Date of last change: November 2017

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek, Tatjana Kofol Bric 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Jasmina Staroveški Anderlič 
Date of last change: March 2020

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek 
Date of last change: November 2021

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek 
Date of last change: March 2023

Prepared by: Tatjana Kofol Bric 
Date of last modification: September 2016

Preventive

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek and Sonja Tomšič 
Date of last change: March 2017

Prepared by: Bonia Miljavac 
Date of last change: March 2017

Prepared by: Sonja Tomšič 
Date of last change: November 2019

Prepared by: Sonja Tomšič 
Date of last change: March 2021

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek 
Date of last change: March 2017

Prepared by: Aleš Korošec
Date of last change: September 2016

Prepared by: Tatjana Kofol Bric 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Aleš Korošec and Sonja Tomšič 
Date of last change: September 2016

Prepared by: Mojca Simončič and Metka Zaletel 
Date of last change: October 2019

Prepared by: Kristina Orožen 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Tatjana Kofol Bric, Jona Bambič 
Date of last change: March 2018

Prepared by: Victoria Zakrajšek, Tatjana Kofol Bric 
Date of last change: February 2020

Prepared by: Ema Ahačič 
Date of last change: April 2023

Prepared by: Ema Ahačič 
Date of last change: March 2023

Mortality

Prepared by: Sonja Tomšič, Tatjana Kofol Bric 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Sonja Tomšič 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Tina Lesnik 
Date of last change: March 2019

Prepared by: Tina Lesnik 
Date of last change: March 2020