CDC: 35 Million Americans Have Uncontrolled Hypertension « CardioBrief

CDC: 35 Million Americans Have Uncontrolled Hypertension « CardioBrief

30.4% of US adults (about 66.9 million people) have hypertension.

53.5% have uncontrolled hypertension (about 35.8 million people).

39.4% with uncontrolled hypertension (about 14.1 million) are unaware that they have hypertension.

89.4% with uncontrolled hypertension have a “usual source of health care and insurance, representing a missed opportunity for hypertension control.”

The so called team approach accounts for the missed diagnosis of HT on a consistent basis. Taking a BP in most institutions is relegated to the lowest level assistant’s assistant or to an automated BP cuff that consistently records low readings. This "team approach" fails to give reliable readings.

When administrators make cost saving medical decisions, cutting corners that real doctors would never knowingly cut, a surprising level of negligence can grow unnoticed to a National scale.

I speak in part from personal experience. I’m a teaching clinical physician but old enough to have a number of problems that take me to the doctor’s office, ER or major clinic. Including Cleveland Clinic, I have yet to have my BP properly taken and never by the attending physician.

Assistants consistently ignore which arm to use, take the pressure through clothing, and utterly disregard arm position. I submit that the physician will never know who has HT unless he or she takes the BP themselves, nor will he or she know who is under control and who is not.
The Ophthalmologist can tell you but the assistant cannot. Relegating the BP to apothecaries, bathers and other so called providers will not help either and for the same reason — never mind an adequate HT work-up..