title: Ethnic/racial variations in blood pressure awareness, treatment, and control.
abstract: Understanding the impact of patient factors on blood pressure (BP) management is an important step to developing interventions to improve cardiovascular health. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002 was used to identify predictors of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control. An estimated 63.3 million (31.0%) US adults currently have BP exceeding 140/90 mm Hg, and prevalence is higher for blacks than for other racial/ethnic subgroups. Among antihypertensive medication-treated patients, 51.3% are controlled. Treated blacks and Mexican Americans have the lowest rates of BP control. Mexican Americans are 0.62 times as likely to be aware and 0.61 times as likely to be treated as white persons with hypertension. Compared with whites, treated Mexican Americans are 0.71 times as likely and treated blacks 0.59 times as likely to achieve BP control. Hypertension treatment and BP control in the United States remain suboptimal, and significant racial/ethnic disparities persist. Effective interventions targeting Mexican Americans and blacks as well as whites are essential to improving hypertension management.
authors.affiliation: Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA. tgiles4@cox.net
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Aranda
authors.forename: Dong-Churl
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: In-Sun
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Preblick
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Feride
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frech-Tamas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001364:Awareness; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents