title: Similar blood pressure values across racial and economic groups: baseline data from a group randomized clinical trial.
abstract: 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 Caucasians and minority patients, primarily blacks, 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, College of Pharmacy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. barry-carter@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Barry L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.forename: Liz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Brent M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ardery
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Chrischilles
authors.forename: Dixie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ecklund
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vander Weg
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vaughn
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000191:economics* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States