INADEQUATELY CONTROLLED HYPERTENSION – PATIENT PROFILES IN GERMANY AND SPAIN: INSIGHTS FROM THE ENLIGHTN STUDY

Objective: Describe the characteristics of patients with inadequately controlled hypertension (HTN) in Germany (DE) and Spain (ES). Design and method: EnligHTN is a multinational observational study using claims and health registry data to assess the burden of inadequately controlled HTN. Data sources were IQVIA Disease Analyzer (DE) and Telotrón (ES) (data from other countries will be included in the future). Patients with a diagnosis of HTN treated with >=2 antihypertensive drugs from 2018 to 2023 were included. Patients were considered inadequately controlled if their first blood pressure (BP) measurement while treated with >=2 antihypertensive drugs for at least 30 days (index date) was above BP target (>=140/90 mmHg). Patient characteristics at the index date were summarized by country. Results: In total, 105,041 patients were included (90,714 [DE], 14,327 [ES]). Of those treated with >=2 antihypertensive drugs, 53% (DE) and 47% (ES) were considered inadequately controlled. The mean blood pressure in these patients was 153/86 mmHg in DE and 151/89 mmHg in ES. In DE, 16% of patients were on at least 4 classes of antihypertensive medications, compared to just 2% in ES. The mean age (±SD) was 69 (±13) years in DE and 61 (±13) years in ES; 53% and 60% were male. The most common comorbidities in DE were dyslipidaemia (27%), type 2 diabetes (24%) and coronary artery disease (16%), while 46% were obese. In ES, the most common comorbidities, excluding COVID-19, were dyslipidaemia (50%), renal disease (18%) and type 2 diabetes (16%), and 52% were obese. Conclusions: Despite multiple classes of antihypertensive treatment, a large proportion of patients with HTN was inadequately controlled. Among those with inadequately controlled HTN, comorbidities were common, particularly obesity and those related to metabolism, likely predisposing these patients to an increased risk of adverse cardiorenal outcomes placing a large burden on healthcare systems.