title: The effect of patient race and blood pressure control on patient-physician communication.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Racial disparities in hypertension control contribute to higher rates of cardiovascular mortality among blacks. Patient-physician communication quality is associated with better health outcomes, including blood pressure (BP) control. Both race/ethnicity and BP control may adversely affect communication.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether being black and having poor BP control interact to adversely affect patient-physician communication more than either condition alone, a situation referred to as "double jeopardy."
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study of enrollment data from a randomized controlled trial of interventions to enhance patient adherence to therapy for hypertension. Participants included 226 hypertensive patients and 39 physicians from 15 primary care practices in Baltimore, MD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Communication behaviors and visit length from coding of audiotapes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After controlling for patient and physician characteristics, blacks with uncontrolled BP have shorter visits (B = -3.9 min, p < 0.01) with less biomedical (B = -24.0, p = 0.05), psychosocial (B = -19.4, p < 0.01), and rapport-building (B = -19.5, p = 0.01) statements than whites with controlled BP. Of all communication outcomes, blacks with uncontrolled BP are only in "double jeopardy" for a patient positive affect-coders give them lower ratings than all other patients. Blacks with controlled BP also experience shorter visits and less communication with physicians than whites with controlled BP. There are no significant communication differences between the visits of whites with uncontrolled versus controlled BP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reveals that patient race is associated with the quality of patient-physician communication to a greater extent than BP control. Interventions that improve patient-physician communication should be tested as a strategy to reduce racial disparities in hypertension care and outcomes.
authors: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors: Crystal W
authors: CW
authors: Cené
authors: Debra
authors: D
authors: Roter
authors: Kathryn A
authors: KA
authors: Carson
authors: Edgar R
authors: ER
authors: Miller
authors: Lisa A
authors: LA
authors: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology