The Impact of Early Recognition and Treatment of Systemic Hypertension on Reducing Blood Pressure: The Hypertension and Vascular Evaluation Program. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Min, Jungwon; Griffis, Heather M.; Mendoza, Melodee; Tam, Vicky; Kaplinski, Michelle; Kogon, Amy J.; Hanson, Hannah; Meyers, Kevin E.; Natarajan, Shobha S.
• Is Part Of: Clinical pediatrics. Volume 59:Number 11(2020)
• Page Start: 970
• Page End: 977
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: pediatrics -- hypertension -- blood pressure -- pediatric practice -- outpatient service; Pediatrics -- Periodicals; 618.920005
• DOI: 10.1177/0009922820927037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0009-9228

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of an outpatient systemic hypertension program and associated factors with attending recommended follow-up visit. All visits were tracked in the program, 2011 to 2018. We examined patient characteristics by follow-up status and changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the risk of hypertension in follow-up patients using a mixed-effects regression model. Among 310 patients with first visits, 113 patients returned for a follow-up visit. Patients who did not attend a follow-up were older and less likely to have a severe chronic condition or a family history of hypertension than followed-up patients. The risk of hypertension was significantly reduced by the number of follow-up visits (odds ratio = 0.53, 95% confidence interval = 0.31-0.92). Adolescent SBP and body mass index percentiles decreased with more follow-up visits. As the risk of hypertension is significantly reduced with follow-up visits, additional effort should be made to improve the likelihood of follow-up attendance.