OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical characteristics and therapy conditions in hospitalized patients with essential hypertension in Beijing.

METHODSPatients with essential hypertension hospitalized in 20 Beijing hospitals in recent 2 years were included in this epidemiologic retrospective survey. Data on age, blood pressure level, risk factors and complicated diseases, antihypertensive medication and heart structural and functional characteristics measured by echocardiography were collected.

RESULTSTotal 5106 hospitalized patients (mean age 63.78 years) with essential hypertension were recorded. Mean blood pressure was 145.97/84.23 mm Hg (1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa). Among them, 75.5% complicated with at least one risk factor, 30% suffered from heart failure. The atria enlargement and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction were the two most common echocardiographic pathological changes. Left ventricular hypertrophy is positively correlated with blood pressure. Logistic regression analysis showed that increased systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and plasma creatinine, old age and decreased HDL-cholesterol were risk factors of left ventricular hypertrophy. Only 32.1% patients achieved the goal blood pressure level (<140/90 mm Hg) and 38.1% patients were treated with monotherapy. The most commonly used antihypertensive drugs were calcium channel blockers and diuretics.

CONCLUSIONSIt is of importance to strictly follow the therapy guidelines on hypertension treatment and use combined drug therapy to increase the rate of patients reaching goal blood pressure level and reduce hypertensive complications.