Evaluation of Target Organ Damage in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Hypertension

Background: Hypertension is often asymptomatic in its early stages, and a substantial proportion of patients already have evidence of target-organ damage (TOD) at the time of first diagnosis. Published data on the prevalence of TOD in newly detected hypertensives from India remain scarce. The objective is to determine whether newly diagnosed hypertension patients have target-organ involvement and to connect clinical, fundoscopic, renal, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic data with cardiovascular risk factors, age, and sex. Material and Methods: At Subbaiah Medical College in Shimoga, this descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out over the course of eighteen months. Patients with diabetes, ischemic heart disease, renal illness, or pregnancy were not included in the recruitment of 80 people with newly diagnosed hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg on two or more occasions). A thorough clinical assessment, electrocardiography, echocardiography, fundoscopy, and renal function evaluation, including testing for micro- and macro-albuminuria, were performed on all participants. Results: There were 42 men and 38 women in the cohort, with mean ages of 61.8 and 57.6 years, respectively; 55% of them were overweight or obese. 23 patients (28.75%) had microalbuminuria, 35 had diastolic dysfunction (43.75%), 38 had left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (47.5%), and 31 had hypertensive retinopathy (38.75%), most of which were grade I or II. Both albuminuria and increased left ventricular mass were substantially linked to retinopathy, and albuminuria had a strong correlation with both diastolic dysfunction and LVH. Systolic blood pressure at diagnosis showed a positive correlation with retinal abnormalities. Conclusion: In a significant number of patients, microalbuminuria and LVH, two known indicators of cardiovascular disease, were present when hypertension was initially identified. This underscores the need for frequent, widespread screening for hypertension in the general population to permit earlier detection and intervention.

Keywords: Target organ damage; Left ventricular hypertrophy; Diastolic dysfunction; Hypertensive retinopathy; Microalbuminuria; Newly detected hypertension.