Open AccessSimilar Blood Pressure Values Across Racial and Economic Groups: Baseline Data from a Group Randomized Clinical Trial
Author(s) -
Carter Barry L.,
Coffey Christopher S.,
Uribe Liz,
James Paul A.,
Egan Brent M.,
Ardery Gail,
Chrischilles Elizabeth A.,
Ecklund Dixie,
Weg Mark,
Vaughn Thomas
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the journal of clinical hypertension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1751-7176
pISSN - 1524-6175
DOI - 10.1111/jch.12091
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , randomized controlled trial , diastole , socioeconomic status , diabetes mellitus , primary care , cardiology , demography , population , endocrinology , family medicine , environmental health , sociology
This paper examines baseline characteristics from a prospective, cluster‐randomized trial in 32 primary care offices. Offices were first stratified by percentage of minorities and level of clinical pharmacy services and then randomized into 1 of 3 study groups. The only differences between randomized arms were for marital status ( P =.03) and type of insurance coverage ( P <.001). Blood pressures (BPs) were similar in C aucasians and minority patients, primarily b lacks, who were hypertensive at baseline. On multivariate analyses, patients who were 65 years and older had higher systolic BP (152.4±14.3 mm Hg), but lower diastolic BP (77.3±11.8 mm Hg) compared with those younger than 65 years (147.4±15.0/88.6±10.6 mm Hg, P <.001 for both systolic and diastolic BP ). Other factors significantly associated with higher systolic BP were a longer duration of hypertension ( P =.04) and lower basal metabolic index ( P =.011). Patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease had a lower systolic BP than those without these conditions ( P <.0001). BP was similar across racial and socioeconomic groups for patients with uncontrolled hypertension in primary care, suggesting that patients with uncontrolled hypertension and an established primary care relationship likely have different reasons for poor BP control than other patient populations.