Large-Scale Program Increases Hypertension Control

(HealthDay News) – A hypertension control program that includes a hypertension registry, performance metrics, evidence-based guidelines, visits for blood pressure measurement, and medication is effective in improving hypertension control, according to a study published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Marc G. Jaffe, MD, from the Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center, and colleagues compared the effectiveness of a hypertension control program among hypertensive Kaiser Permanente Northern California members (349,937 patients in 2001, increasing to 652,763 by 2009) with insured patients nationally and in California.

The researchers found that hypertension control within Kaiser Permanente significantly increased, from 43.6% to 80.4% from 2001–2009. In contrast, mean hypertension control increased nationally from 55.4% to only 64.1% over the same period, and from 63.4% to only 69.4% from 2006–2009 in California.

“Among adults diagnosed with hypertension, implementation of a large-scale hypertension program was associated with a significant increase in hypertension control compared with state and national control rates,” Jaffe and colleagues conclude.

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