Introduction: Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide. Although effective treatment exists and is widely available, few patients manage to achieve BP control, even in high-income countries such as Belgium. As hypertension (HTN) is a chronic condition, it requires lifelong continuous and coordinated action from healthcare systems along the continuum of care. This raises the need to evaluate the delivery of HTN care accordingly, using a cascade of care (CoC) approach, rather than solely focussing on the outcomes (i.e. BP control).Objectives and methods: The objective of the current study is twofold. First, we use a CoC approach to identify where most patients are lost along the continuum of HTN care. Second, we identify patient characteristics that are associated with the leakages in the CoC. Based on cross-sectional data from the 2018 Belgian Health Interview Survey and the Belgian Health Examination Study, we estimate the prevalence of HTN among the Belgian population aged 40-80 and the proportions that reach each stage of the HTN CoC: being screened, diagnosed, linked to care, treated, followed-up and well-controlled. Next, cox regression models are estimated to assess the factors associated with an elevated risk of not being linked to care, treated and followed-up.Results: Our preliminary findings indicate that 44.7% of the Belgian population aged 40-80 has HTN. Of these, 96.7% had their BP measured in the past 3 years, but only 56.1% self-reported having been diagnosed. Furthermore, 52.9% is linked to care, 49.5% is in treatment and 43.1% is followed-up by means of a yearly blood cholesterol measure. Finally, only about a quarter (25.8%) is well controlled.Men diagnosed with HTN are more likely to be unlinked to care, while once they are in treatment, they are more likely to be followed-up appropriately. Age and BMI were positively associated with being linked to care and in treatment, but not with being followed-up. Finally, the results revealed a socio-economic ...