COMBATING ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION: IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTION AND CARE FOR THE ELDERLY

Abstract

Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) is a very common disease that constitutes an important public health problem in Brazil and around the world, being a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal diseases, in addition to being an important cause of death. for many people. The objective is to analyze what is currently being done to combat SAH, from awareness and prevention to care for elderly patients who already have the disease, based on reading scientific evidence. Therefore, a comprehensive literature review was carried out that synthesizes knowledge and incorporates the practical applicability of important research results. They were adopted, the search for evidence was carried out on the Capes/MEC Journal Portal, the area of knowledge was Health Sciences, the foundations were: Science Direct and SCOPUS. In addition, searches were carried out in the Online Electronic Science Library (SciELO Brasil); in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), covering the following databases: Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS) and MEDLINE. Also in the National Library of Medicine (Pubmed) and the Cochrane Library. With the descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS/MeSH), Portuguese: Arterial Hypertension; Prevention; Care for the Elderly. However, the majority of elderly patients with systemic arterial hypertension develop complications resulting from inadequate treatment, predisposing them to other comorbidities. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in Brazil and hypertension is one of the main risk factors. Systemic arterial hypertension is a public health problem whose continuous control aims to prevent irreversible changes in the body and is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Systemic blood pressure control is directly related to patient adherence to treatment. Non-adherence to medication is one of the main causes of poor hypertension control and one of the most important problems faced by primary care professionals.