May Measurement Month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Italy

Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are burdened by high mortality and morbidity, being responsible for half of the deaths in Europe. Although hypertension is recognized as the most important CV risk factor, hypertension awareness and blood pressure (BP) control are still unsatisfactory. In 2017, 30.6% of a >10 000 individual sample who took part in the May Measurement Month (MMM) campaign in Italy was found to have high BP. To raise awareness on the hypertension issue and to report BP data on a nation-wide scale in Italy. In the frame of the MMM campaign, an opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2018. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. Screenings were conducted in multiple sites by health care personnel. Among the 5554 people screened (females: 48.3%, mean age 58 ± 17 years) mean BP was 127/77 mmHg, and after imputations, 1462 (26.3%) participants were found to have high BP levels. Body mass index >25 was associated with higher systolic BP and diastolic BP (DBP), while diabetes was associated with high DBP only. Our data provide a nation-wide snapshot of BP control in a sample of individuals participating in a national health care campaign, and confirm the power of this kind of healthcare-related activities in reaching a significant number of people to raise awareness on health topics. The apparent positive trend in BP control compared to available data from other similar campaigns carried out during the past years needs to be confirmed with more methodologically robust studies.