[Evaluation of the prevalence and management of normocholesterolaemic and non coronary hypertensives in France].
We performed a study amongst hypertensive patients who consulted French general practitioners in the Sentinelles network. Firstly, the significance of this population in mainland France was quantified by keeping a register of all hypertensive patients aged over 40 years seen in a general practice consultation, and secondly the distribution of risk factors and management of normocholesterolaemic (total cholesterol < or = 2.5 g/l) without lipid lowering treatment and non coronary patients was described more precisely. Analysis of the population of 7864 hypertensives from this register showed that on average one doctor saw 3 hypertensive patients a day and that about half of them (54%) were normocholesterolaemic, non coronary patients. Analysis of this sub-population of 2519 patients showed that 19.9% of them had at least 3 of the other cardiovascular risk factors described in the ASCOT study (Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial) and that 39.5% had controlled hypertension according to the New York Heart Association classification. The extrapolated number of hypertensive, non coronary patients who were normocholesterolaemic without lipid lowering treatment was estimated as 4.6 million (4.1:5.1) for the whole of France.