Abstract
Despite major public health initiatives are working in the control of hypertension, hypertensive crisis remains an important clinical problem. This study aimed at examining the characteristics, treatment and outcome of patients with hypertensive crisis admitted to the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on patient medical records (n = 304) between January 01, 2013 and December 31, 2017. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version21. A total of 252 patient medical records were included in the analysis. The mean age of the entire patients was 54 ± 17 years. Two hundred and nineteen (86.9%) patients have a documented history of hypertension and on antihypertensive drugs (n = 166, 65.9%). The majority of cases (n = 166, 65.9%) were hypertensive urgencies. In more than one-third of the patients (n = 98, 38.9%), the cause of the illness was attributed to non-compliance to therapy. The most common presenting signs and symptoms at admission were headache (n = 170, 67.5%), dyspnea (n = 36, 14.3%), and vomiting (n = 33, 13.1%). Of 852 tests ordered, the results of one-third (n = 298,34.9%) were abnormal. Nearly two-thirds (n = 336, 59.2%) of prescriptions documented were for hypertensive urgency. Captopril (n = 136, 23.9%) and hydralazine (n = 43, 7.6%) were the most commonly prescribed oral and intravenous drugs respectively. Ten patients died during 55 hours of hospital stay. All hospital mortalities were documented for a hypertensive emergency. The median decrement of diastolic blood pressure among patients with no history of previous admission and hypertensive urgency was significantly higher than those patients with a previous history of admission (P = .005) and hypertensive emergency (P = .010). These findings justify better treatment and follow-up for these patients. Most importantly, to improve compliance with treatment health professionals should provide education to the patients.