Probability of Reduced Follow-up Health Care Visits for Controlled Hypertensive Patients

Abstract

We would like to express our appreciation for Chamberlain and colleagues1Chamberlain A.M. Cooper-DeHoff R.M. Fontil V. et al.Disruption in blood pressure control with the COVID-19 pandemic: the PCORnet Blood Pressure Control Laboratory.Mayo Clin Proc. 2023; (∗∗∗)Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (0) Google Scholar for conducting such a large study under the difficult clinical research conditions prevailing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of their study are very interesting, and we would like to ask the following questions that came to mind as we read through the paper. In Table 3 (rows 1 to 3), it can be seen that the percentage of patients with well-controlled hypertension is lower in 2020 than in 2019, in all cases: percentage of patients with blood pressure (BP) control (<140/<90 mm Hg); percentage of patients with BP control to 2017 Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines goal (<130/<80 mm Hg); and percentage of patients with improvement in BP (reduction of 10 mm Hg in systolic BP or achievement of systolic BP <140 mm Hg). Could this decrease be due to a large number of patients with well-controlled hypertension who did not require treatment for the time being and therefore could have discontinued seeing their physicians? As can be seen from Table 3 (row 6), there was only a small decrease in repeated visits within 4 weeks by patients with uncontrolled BP. This suggests that most patients have well-controlled hypertension and may have decided on their own or on their physician's advice to discontinue follow-up visits. The authors report no competing interests. In Reply: Probability of Reduced Follow-up Health Care Visits for Controlled Hypertensive PatientsMayo Clinic ProceedingsVol. 98Issue 6PreviewWe thank Drs Tanikawa and Fujikawa for their interest in our manuscript. We agree it is likely that some patients with well-controlled hypertension discontinued seeing their providers during the pandemic. However, our serial cross-sectional study design precluded us from studying care-seeking behaviors longitudinally over time among individuals between 2019 and 2020. Thus, we are unable to provide estimates of the proportion of patients with well-controlled hypertension who discontinued seeing their providers. Full-Text PDF Disruption in Blood Pressure Control With the COVID-19 Pandemic: The PCORnet Blood Pressure Control LaboratoryMayo Clinic ProceedingsVol. 98Issue 5PreviewTo explore trends in blood pressure (BP) control before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full-Text PDF