Skip to Main Content
School of Public Health

​
  • Admissions
  • Research
  • Education
  • Practice
​
Search
  • Newsroom
    • School News
    • SPH This Week Newsletter
    • SPH in the Media
    • SPH This Year Magazine
    • News Categories
    • Contact Us
  • Research
    • Centers and Groups
  • Academic Departments
    • Biostatistics
    • Community Health Sciences
    • Environmental Health
    • Epidemiology
    • Global Health
    • Health Law, Policy & Management
  • Education
    • Degrees & Programs
    • Public Health Writing
    • Workforce Development Training Centers
    • Partnerships
    • Apply Now
  • Admissions
    • Applying to BUSPH
    • Request Information
    • Degrees and Programs
    • Why Study at BUSPH?
    • Tuition and Funding
    • SPH by the Numbers
    • Events and Campus Visits
    • Admissions Team
    • Student Ambassadors
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Events
    • Public Health Conversations
    • Full Events Calendar
    • Alumni and Friends Events
    • Commencement Ceremony
    • SPH Awards
  • Practice
    • Activist Lab
  • Careers & Practicum
    • For Students
    • For Employers
    • For Faculty & Staff
    • For Alumni
    • Graduate Employment & Practicum Data
  • Public Health Post
    • Public Health Post Fellowship
  • About
    • SPH at a Glance
    • Advisory Committees
    • Strategy Map
    • Senior Leadership
    • Accreditation
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
    • Directory
    • Contact SPH
  • Support SPH
    • Big Ideas: Strategic Directions
    • Faculty Research and Development
    • Future of Public Health Fund
    • Generation Health
    • idea hub
    • Public Health Conversations
    • Public Health Post
    • Student Scholarship
    • How to Give
    • Contact Development and Alumni Relations
  • Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Directory
Read More News
environmental justice

How Home Addresses May Predict Health Consequences of Roach, Rodent Exposure

health law

BU Hosts 48th Annual Health Law Professors Conference

More Progress Needed to Address Uncontrolled Hypertension.

December 12, 2016
Twitter Facebook

blood-pressure-gaugeThe management of hypertension has been a major public health success in the US, with large healthcare systems now able to control blood-pressure rates in 80 percent of their hypertension patients.

But further improvements in hypertension control rates will require “tailored interventions” that address unique characteristics and barriers for specific subpopulations, a School of Public Health researcher says in a recent commentary in The Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

“Uncontrolled hypertension can no longer be considered to have a single cause. As a result, we cannot expect that one-size-fits-all interventions, which have contributed to the current success, will lead to substantial further improvements in control rates at already high-performing integrated healthcare systems,” writes Dan Berlowitz, professor of health law, policy, and management. He also is a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine and a researcher with the Center for Healthcare Organization & Implementation Research at the Bedford VA Hospital.

Berlowitz said characteristics of patients with uncontrolled hypertension have been consistently identified in studies going back more than two decades—factors such as obesity, diabetes, increased creatinine, and being older or African American. But the reasons behind uncontrolled hypertension appear to vary, he says.

“Clinical inertia,” or a reluctance to intensify treatment, is particularly common in cases involving patients with diabetes, possibly because of “competing demands” in which physicians invest time and effort into managing glycemic control, rather than blood pressure. Uncontrolled hypertension in obese patients might be caused by obstructive sleep apnea, Berlowitz says. Meanwhile, community-based support through “influential peers” may help to promote healthier behaviors in some subpopulations.

Further improvements, Berlowitz says, “will require considerable effort on the part of clinicians, both to understand why hypertension control is not being achieved in individual patients and in determining how best to improve control in these smaller subpopulations.”

He notes that expected changes to national guidelines for systolic blood pressure thresholds will pose additional challenges.

“While the hypertension community has much to be proud of, there still is a long way to go,” he concludes.

Berlowitz’ work was supported by the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Medical Center in Bedford.

—Lisa Chedekel

Explore Related Topics:

  • hypertension
  • Share this story

Share

More Progress Needed to Address Uncontrolled Hypertension

  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Twitter

More about SPH

Sign up for our newsletter

Get the latest from Boston University School of Public Health

Subscribe

Also See

  • About
  • Newsroom
  • Contact
  • Support SPH

Resources

  • Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Directory
  • Boston University School of Public Health
  • 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118
  • © 2021 Trustees of Boston University
  • DMCA
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
© Boston University. All rights reserved. www.bu.edu
Boston University Masterplate
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.