Nursing epidemiological approach of hypertension management in a public health service from the northern region of Portugal

Background: Epidemiological surveillance of a nursing diagnosis is an approach anchored in a post-modern epidemiology focused on a person’s health disease responses. Regarding public health priorities, the population where our study occurred had as a priority problem arterial hypertension. Related to this chronic disease, nursing diagnoses about health disease responses in primary healthcare has, as a major focus, Therapeutic Regimen Management. Our aim was to study the nursing diagnosis in this issue from an epidemiological approach. Methods: A descriptive study from an epidemiological approach was developed, analyzing nursing diagnoses in hypertensive patients. Results: We found 17.7% of undiagnosed patients and better diagnoses in patients with complications than in those without complications. Conclusions: Nursing records need to be improved in order to promote more robust studies in the post-modern epidemiology for the future.