Social Determinants of Health Explain Disparities in Treatment-Resistant Hypertension

TUESDAY, May 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Part of the association between race and incident apparent treatment‐resistant hypertension (aTRH) risk is mediated by social determinants of health, according to a study published online May 16 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Oluwasegun P. Akinyelure, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues examined the association of multilevel social determinants of health with incident aTRH. The analysis included data from 2,774 White and 2,257 Black U.S. adults taking antihypertensive medication participating in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study.

The researchers found that during a median 9.5 years of follow‐up, 15.9 percent of White and 24.0 percent of Black adults developed aTRH. The excess aTRH risk among Black versus White adults was mediated by low education (14.2 percent), low income (16.0 percent), not seeing a friend or relative in the past month (8.1 percent), not having someone to care for them if ill or disabled (7.6 percent), lack of health insurance (10.6 percent), living in a disadvantaged neighborhood (18.0 percent), and living in states with poor public health infrastructure (6.0 percent).

“These findings suggest that addressing social determinants of health among adults with hypertension may reduce racial disparities in the risk of aTRH,” the authors write. 

Abstract/Full Text