Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Hypertension Prevention and Control: What Will It Take to Translate Research into Practice and Policy?
Key result
A systematic review of 39 interventions found that while 27 improved blood pressure control in racial and ethnic minorities, only 3 of 6 studies examining disparities actually reduced them.
Why the study?
Do targeted interventions improve blood pressure control and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in minority populations?
Population
Racial and ethnic minorities with hypertension (majority African-American in most studies)
Design
Systematic_review
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
Improving blood pressure in minority populations does not automatically close equity gaps; leaves open the need for trials specifically.
Key Points
- To synthesize existing evidence on interventions targeting racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure control and identify strategies to translate effective models into practice and policy.
- Searched PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL databases for interventions targeting racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure control.
- Categorized identified interventions by the levels of an ecological model and evaluated their effectiveness on blood pressure control and disparity reduction.
- Identified 39 interventions (5 ongoing), with most studies evaluating majority African-American patient populations.
- Among completed interventions, 27 demonstrated improvements in blood pressure control or related process measures, while 7 showed no improvement.
- Of the 6 studies that directly evaluated disparity metrics, 3 reduced disparities, 2 increased disparities, and 1 had no effect on disparities.
Study Design
Type
Systematic Review
Structured PICO
Do targeted interventions improve blood pressure control and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in minority populations?
P
Population
Racial and ethnic minorities with hypertension (majority African-American in most studies)
I
Intervention
Interventions targeted toward reducing racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure control
O
Outcome
Improvement in blood pressure control or related process measures, and reduction in disparitiessurrogate
While several interventions improve blood pressure control in racial and ethnic minorities, evidence demonstrating actual reduction in disparities remains limited, highlighting the need for rigorous evaluation of multilevel interventions.
Limitations
- Evidence that interventions reduce disparities is limited
- Many groups are understudied
Cite This Study
Mueller et al. (2014) conducted a systematic review in Hypertension. Interventions to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure control was evaluated on Improvement in blood pressure control or related process measures, and effect on disparities. A systematic review of 39 interventions found that while 27 improved blood pressure control in racial and ethnic minorities, only 3 of 6 studies examining disparities actually reduced them.