The distribution of hypertension in the Philippine General Hospital

ABSTRACT

The distribution of hypertension in patients admitted to five clinical departments of the Philippine General Hospital for two years (1966-1967) was analyzed. Out of a total of 32,731 admissions, 3,121 or 9.50 were hypertensive. The Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology contributed the highest number or 1,971 (63.10) and the Department of Medicine ranked second with 725 hypertensives (23.20). It should be noted that the former had the largest admissions or 21,592 in contrast to the latter which had only 3,729. Minor contributions or less than 10 came from the Departments of Surgery, Eye and Ear, Nose, ThroatHowever, based on the of admissions per department, the highest number of hypertensives came from the Department of Medicine or 725 (19.40). The Eye department ranked second with 14.80 of its admission followed by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology or 9.10The breakdown of the various types of hypertension revealed that toxemia of pregnancy (predominantly pre-eclampsia) was the most frequent or 1,773 out of a total of 2,711 (65.40). The next one was probable primary hypertension or 784 (28.91). The rest of the secondary types totalled 3.23 of which chronic renal diseases (glomerulonephritis and pyelonephritis) were the most common. The rarer types (less than 1) were as follows aortic insufficiency, reno-vascular hypertension, increased intra-cranial pressure, atherosclerosis, endocrine hypertension, acute glomerulonephritis, Cushings syndrome and polycystic kidneys. (Summary)