Blood pressure control in tertiary-care hypertensive patients during COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors distribution during the pandemic suggests worsening of the cardiovascular risk profile of hypertensive patients. At the same time, data on quality of hypertension control during the COVID-19 pandemic are scarce, in Poland. The aim of the study was to analyse the quality of blood pressure (BP) control in a group of patients who required regular control in tertiary care.Material and methods: The study included patients regularly monitored in Gdansk Hypertension Centre for at least 4 years with at least 2 visits a year prior the analysis. The size of the group was calculated based on the original data of first 50 consecutive records of patients (power of 90%). Records were retrospectively analysed with respect to office blood pressure (oBP) control. Additionally, within-visit BP variability was calculated (difference of maximum and minimum BP from 3 measurements); body weight, age, sex, duration of hypertension, number of visits per year, seasonal BP variability, use of telemedical services, comorbidities and BP-lowering treatment were recorded.Results: The study enrolled 220 patients. The values of systolic BP (sBP) before and after the break in the whole group were 135.8 +/- 17.1 mm Hg vs. 137.9 +/- 19.5 mm Hg; P=0.08, and a diastolic BP (dBP) of 80.3 +/- 11.4 mm Hg vs. 82.6 +/- 12.2 mm Hg; p = 0.001. After adjusting for seasonal variation of BP, the respective differences were: sBP: 134.8 +/- 16.5 vs. 138.0 +/- 19.4; p = 0.03, and dBP: 79.4 +/- 10.9 vs. 82.2 +/- 11.9; p = 0.004. Before 2020, 61.4% of patients were controlled (BP < 140/90 mm Hg), whereas after the pandemic-driven break in regular visits the control rate decreased to 55.5% (p = 0.21).Conclusions: BP increased significantly and the rate of BP control decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in a group of patients requiring tertiary care for hypertension.