Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the treatment and adherence of hypertensive patients: challenges and outcomes

Objective: The COVID19 pandemic has seen an important decrease in outpatient clinic visits across all medical specialties as well as a raise in emergency presentations often more severe than previously. Although Sweden has not undergone a strict lockdown, patients’ behaviour was similar to the rest of the European countries. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on hypertensive patients follow-up and adherence to medical treatment at a Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) in Sweden. Design and method: We conducted a prospective, single centre study which included patients diagnosed with arterial hypertension undergoing regular follow-ups at the PHCC. Inclusion criteria were no record of blood pressure (BP) measurement within the last two years from start date (March 2022) and ongoing prescribed medication from the PHCC. A letter with recommendation to book a follow-up was sent to all the patients who met the inclusion criteria. We analysed patient characteristics, laboratory and prescribed medication at baseline (visit 1) and 6 months after the letters were sent (visit 2). Results: 213 patients were initially evaluated and 102 patients (aged 64.58 ± 9.45; 61 males, 59.8%) diagnosed with hypertension were included in the study. Out of these 73 patients (71.56%) booked a follow-up visit with 26 patients (35.61%) receiving changes in their medication. The mean BMI between visit 1 and 2 was 30.19 kg/m 2 vs. 29.72 kg/m 2 , p = 0.578. Also there were no significant differences regarding systolic (139.04 ± 13.87 vs. 141.92 ± 14.55, p = 0.103) and diastolic (83.18 ± 9.19 vs. 84.61 ± 8.07, p = 0.176) BP. Most patients were treated with a calcium channel blocker (58 pat, 56.7%) followed by an angiotensin receptor blocker (38 pat, 37.3%). No significant differences were found for the lipidic profile between visits with only 30 patients (29.41%) being on statin at visit 1 compared to 36 patients (35.3%) at visit 2. Conclusions: Although patient follow-up was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, we did not find statistically significant changes in their BP, lipidic profile or weight.