Practice patterns, outcomes, and end-organ dysfunction for patients with acute severe hypertension: the Studying the Treatment of Acute hyperTension (STAT) registry.
BACKGROUND
Limited data are available on the care of patients with acute severe hypertension requiring hospitalization. We characterized contemporary practice patterns and outcomes for this population.


METHODS
STAT is a 25-institution, US registry of consecutive patients with acute severe hypertension (>180 mm Hg systolic and/or >110 mm Hg diastolic; >140 and/or >90 for subarachnoid hemorrhage) treated with intravenous therapy in a critical care setting.


RESULTS
One thousand five hundred eighty-eight patients were enrolled (January 2007 to April 2008). Median age was 58 years (interquartile range 49-70 years), 779 (49%) were women, and 892 (56%) were African American; 27% (n = 425) had a prior admission for acute hypertension and 486 (31%) had chronic kidney disease. Median qualifying blood pressure (BP) was 200 (186, 220) systolic and 110 (93, 123) mm Hg diastolic. Initial intravenous antihypertensive therapies used to control BP varied, with 1,009 (64%) patients requiring multiple drugs. Median time to achieve a systolic BP <160 mm Hg (<140 mm Hg for subarachnoid hemorrhage) was 4.0 (0.8, 12) hours; 893 (60%) had reelevation to >180 (>140 for subarachnoid hemorrhage) after initial control; and 63 (4.0%) developed iatrogenic hypotension. Hospital mortality was 6.9% (n = 109) with an aggregate 90-day mortality rate of 11% (174/1,588); 59% (n = 943) had acute/worsening end-organ dysfunction during hospitalization. The 90-day readmission rate was 37% (523/1,415), of which one quarter (132/523) was due to recurrent acute severe hypertension.


CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights heterogeneity in care, BP control, and outcomes of patients hospitalized with acute severe hypertension.
Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC 27705, USA.
Jason N
JN
Katz
Joel M
JM
Gore
Alpesh
A
Amin
Frederick A
FA
Anderson
Joseph F
JF
Dasta
James J
JJ
Ferguson
Kurt
K
Kleinschmidt
Stephan A
SA
Mayer
Alan S
AS
Multz
W Frank
WF
Peacock
Eric
E
Peterson
Charles
C
Pollack
Gene Yong
GY
Sung
Andrew
A
Shorr
Joseph
J
Varon
Allison
A
Wyman
Leigh A
LA
Emery
Christopher B
CB
Granger
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents