Black patients less likely to receive added, higher dose meds to control blood pressure

How much of this problem is due to higher poverty rates in African-Americans, causing less access to health care?

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/aha-bpl110220.php

 

News Release 9-Nov-2020
American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2020, presentation MP269
American Heart Association

 

Nearly one-third of racial disparities in treating high blood pressure may stem from inequities in treatment intensification, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2020.


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Treatment intensification is critical for optimal blood pressure control and includes either prescribing a new medication in a different class or increasing the dose of an existing medication when a patient's blood pressure is higher than the goal.

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"Missed opportunities for increasing therapy may be one of the most significant contributors to racial disparities in blood pressure outcomes that may, in turn, contribute to poor health for Black Americans," said Valy Fontil, M.D., M.A.S., assistant professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and first author of the study.

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