Hypertension control and access to medical care in the inner city.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed hypertension control among high-risk African Americans.


METHODS
We interviewed 583 African Americans aged 18 years and older residing in 438 randomly selected inner-city households.


RESULTS
Forty-two percent of the respondents were hypertensive. Blood pressure was uncontrolled in 74% of hypertensive persons, although 64% of hypertensive persons reported having seen a physician within the previous 3 months. Hypertension control was associated with female gender and higher socioeconomic strata but not with public versus private sources of medical care.


CONCLUSIONS
Hypertension control is inadequate in this population, although health care services are used frequently. Hypertension control efforts should focus on the effectiveness of health care delivery.
Kotchen
J M
JM
Division of Epidemiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA. jkotchen@post.its.mcw.edu
Shakoor-Abdullah
B
B
Walker
W E
WE
Chelius
T H
TH
Hoffmann
R G
RG
Kotchen
T A
TA
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017150:Public Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014922:Wisconsin