Abstract 42: Opportunistic Screening versus Population-Wide for Hypertension: A Microsimulation Study

Background: To massively scale up efforts to diagnose and treat hypertension, different screening strategies have been proposed (population-wide screening campaigns and healthcare facility-based “opportunistic” screening). However, no studies have compared their impact on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in low-resource settings. Objective: To compare hypertension treatment coverage, CVD events, and CVD deaths in Bangladesh from three different screening strategies. Methods: We developed a discrete-time microsimulation model populated with data from the 2018 Bangladesh WHO STEPS survey. Over 10 years, hypertension diagnosis and treatment, CVD events (strokes and ischemic heart disease), and deaths were estimated for a model population (100,000 adults without hypertension diagnosis or CVD history) under 3 scenarios: (1) current practice of limited opportunistic screening in public healthcare facilities (20%…