May Measurement Month 2017: an analysis of blood pressure screening results in Armenia—Europe

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. The study was conducted in public areas (14 sites in Yerevan and 18 in regions), both indoor and outdoor, as well as in 42 primary care centres. A total of 9199 individuals were screened during MMM17 of which 9186 had three BP measurements available. The mean age of screened individuals was 50 ± 16.7 years, 57.3% was female. At the time of screening 17.9% were on antihypertensive medication. After imputation, a percentage of participants with hypertension was 33.9%, and 52.9% of them were on treatment. Of those treated, 77.0% had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 was the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Armenia. We found that in Armenia, untreated hypertension is common, as is not adequately treated hypertension.