Cardiovascular risk profile of young hypertensive patients: the OPENJOVEN study

Background: Knowledge of the hypertensive patient's characteristics is an important aspect to improve its clinical handling. Because of the burden that the patients of advanced age suppose in primary care, few data exist about the youngest patient's cardiovascular profile. Objective: To describe the cardiovascular profile of the young hypertensive patient (<55 years) in primary care in Spain. Design and methods: Cross-sectional multicentre study that was carried out in centres of primary care of the whole Spanish territory. At total of 2108 doctors participated and 6815 patients diagnosed with high blood pressure were included. We used a survey of risk factors, subclinical organ damage, and cardiovascular or renal established disease according to the European Society of Hypertension and the European Society of Cardiology 2007 guidelines to evaluate the cardiovascular risk. Results: Of the hypertensive patients, 5.8% did have not another cardiovascular risk factor (CVRF), 23.2% had one risk factor associated with high blood pressure, 32.8% two, 24.7% three, 11.3% four, and 2.3% had five risk factors. The most prevalent cardiovascular risk factor was dyslipidaemia, found in 80.4% (37.9% with treatment), followed by abdominal obesity, in 45.9% of the hypertensive patients. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 44.4%. The cardiovascular risk was average in 0.2% of the sample, low in 5%, moderate in 26.1%, high in 47.3%, and very high in 21.4%. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that newly diagnosed young hypertensive patients have an intense association of CVRF and a high cardiovascular risk.