Under Pressure: The Burden of Hypertension on Armenias Ambulance System

Hypertension is a leading cause of premature mortality globally. Armenia, a country located in the South Caucasus, has one of the highest rates of hypertension in the world, with an estimated prevalence of 51% among adults aged 30-79. A previous analysis of ambulance calls from 2016-2022 revealed that high blood pressure was the most common ambulance complaint in Armenia. In the present study, we analyzed a de-identified database of all ambulance calls logged on the Locator software in Armenia from January 1, 2016 to July 31, 2022. Among all adults who reported at least one chief complaint, 28.8% listed high blood pressure as their sole complaint. Within this cohort, 61.0% of patients were over 60 years old, and 70.1% of patients were women. The rate of transfer to the hospital was 9.2%. Call volume fluctuated by season, with higher frequencies in the winter and spring and lower frequencies in the summer and fall. Results indicate that a significant proportion of ambulance calls are for non-emergency cases of high blood pressure with no additional reported medical complaints, indicating that Armenias elevated prevalence of hypertension places a significant burden on its ambulance system. Policymakers should prioritize hypertension as a national issue, and consider multi-modal policy interventions aimed at reducing ambulance utilization for high blood pressure.