Hypertension Cascade Across Three Healthcare Systems and in Relation to the Level of Implementation of the Integrated Care Package.

INTRODUCTION

We built Cascades of Care (CoC) for hypertension in Belgium, Slovenia and Cambodia, and assessed CoC stratifications across patients' gender and socioeconomic status. Differences between the CoCs were studied by looking at the level of implementation of the integrated care package and other health system characteristics.

METHODS

A mixed methods design: Age-standardized gender-specific hypertension cascades were built from survey and register data and logistic regression analyses were performed. Focus group discussions with experts were used to interpret these results.

RESULTS

In Belgium, the largest gap is between 'prevalence' and 'diagnosis'. In Cambodia, a large drop -especially among men- is found at the beginning and the end of the cascade. In Slovenia, only a limited number of patients is tested and linked to care, but once registered, attrition is quite low. Poor financial situation was a significant determinant of drop-out across the countries but at different stages of the CoC, and especially in Cambodia large gender differences were observed with women being better retained throughout the CoC.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Despite contextual differences between the countries and difficulties in comparability of the cascades, lessons can be learnt from each country's strengths and weaknesses to improve quality of integrated hypertension care.