Copyright © Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Trends of uncontrolled blood pressure in Spain: an updated meta-regression analysis Ferra ´n Catala ´-Lo ´ pez a,b , Manuel Ridao a,c , Gabriel Sanfe ´ lix-Gimeno a , and Salvador Peiro ´ a I n an interesting paper of the PRESCAP 2010 study, Llisterri et al. [1] suggested that ‘blood pressure (BP) control rates have improved in Spain from 2002 to 2010’ hypothesizing ‘this may be related, at least in part, with the higher use of antihypertensive treatment, parti- cularly combined therapy’. By contrast, we recently reported in a systematic review and meta-analysis of 76 epidemiological studies conducted in Spain from 2000 to 2009 that whereas the percentage of patients receiving at least two antihypertensive drugs increased, the prevalence of uncontrolled BP did not change significantly over time [2]. In that analysis, overall period prevalence of uncon- trolled BP (SBP/DBP 140/90 mmHg) was 67.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 64.1–69.9%], but was 87.6% (95% CI 86.2–89.0%) when a more restricted definition (a) (b) 40 60 80 Proportion of uncontrolled hypertensive patients PRESCAP 2010 100 60 80 100 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Year 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Year Proportion of uncontrolled hypertensive patients PRESCAP 2010 FIGURE 1 Meta-regression analysis. Trends over time of blood pressure control in hypertensive patients across epidemiological studies (Spain 2000–2010). (a) Proportional prevalence of uncontrolled hypertensive patients (140/90 mmHg). (b) Proportional prevalence of uncontrolled hypertensive patients (130/80–85 mmHg). Note: The shaded squares (in grey) represent new epidemiological studies included in the updated analyses. The size of the square is inversely related to the variance of the study. The solid line represents the linear regression (year of study completion as the meta-independent variable). 630 www.jhypertension.com Volume 31  Number 3  March 2013 Correspondence