[Treatment of patients with hypertensive crisis in Emergency Department of Opatija Health Care Center].

The aim of this investigation was to determine the incidence and characteristics of treatment of hypertensive patients in prehospital conditions. From medical histories of 9677 patients treated during 2001 in the Emergency Department of Opatija Health Care Center, 722 patiensts with arterial hypertension were found and divided in four groups according to the classification of arterial hypertension in emergency medicine. The mean age of all patients with arterial hypertension was 66.5 years. 333 patients had hypertensive crises (3.4%), with the highest prevalence in the early evening, on Saturday and in spring (April). Patients with hypertensive emergencies were treated in most cases with nitrates and with nifedipine in urgent cases. All of 175 patients with hypertensive emergencies, after initial prehospital treatment, were transported to the Emergency Department, Rijeka University Hospital and 122 patients (69.7%) were admitted to hospital. Patients with hypertensive urgencies terminated their treatment in the prehospital conditions. Because of nifedipine's adverse effects, introducing a fast acting antihypertensive drug like captopril may improve treatment of hypertensive urgencies in prehospital conditions.