Trends in hypertension and hypertension treatment in primary care in general practices in Germany between 2013 and 2022

TL;DR

This study found that the number of hypertension diagnoses and treatments in German general practices decreased between 2013 and 2022.

Contribution

The study provides recent empirical evidence on hypertension trends in Germany using data from 336 general practices.

Findings

The number of patients diagnosed with hypertension per practice decreased significantly over the study period.

The use of antihypertensive drugs also declined significantly after adjusting for covariates.

The study suggests possible improvements in hypertension prevention in Germany.

Abstract

There is a scarcity of data on the epidemiology of hypertension and its treatment in Germany in recent years.

The present study aimed to investigate trends in the number of adults diagnosed with hypertension and those being prescribed antihypertensive drugs each year in general practices from this country between 2013 and 2022.

This retrospective cohort study used data of adults aged ≥18 years continuously collected from 336 general practices in Germany (IQVIA) during 2013–2022. The diagnosis of hypertension and the prescription of antihypertensive drugs were coded using the ICD-10 and the EphMRA classification, respectively. Covariates included the total number of patients, mean (SD) age of patients, and proportion of women per practice. Trends in hypertension diagnosis and treatment were studied using linear regression models.

The mean (SD) total number of patients per practice ranged from 2,235 (1,055) in 2013–2,845 (2,090) in 2021 (p-value < 0.001). The mean (SD) age of patients per practice was between 48.4 (21.5) and 50.5 (21.4) years, while the proportion of women was 52.1%–53.9% (p-values < 0.001). After adjusting for covariates, there was a significant decrease in the number of patients diagnosed with hypertension (beta coefficient = −7.91, p-value < 0.001) and treated with any antihypertensive drug per practice per year between 2013 and 2022 (beta coefficient = −5.40, p-value < 0.001).

This study identified decreasing trends in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in general practices in Germany in the last decade. These data may suggest that the prevention of hypertension has improved in this country in recent years.

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