Disparities/Minority Health

Regular home blood pressure measurement raises the likelihood of blood pressure control among Korean Americans

Middle-aged Korean-Americans who comply with regular weekly home blood pressure measurement (HBPM) are more likely to have controlled blood pressure (BP) than those who do not comply, according to a new study. Highly compliant participants were four times more likely to achieve controlled BP by the end of the study than those with low compliance. The odds of compliance with weekly HBPM increased fivefold for participants over 60 years old compared with participants 40 to 49 years old. Depressed participants were only one-fifth as likely to be compliant as participants who were not depressed.

The 377 study participants were middle-aged (40 to 64 years old) Korean Americans with high BP (systolic BP at least 140 mmHg or diastolic BP at least 90 mm Hg, or who were taking antihypertensive medication), who had participated in a year-long, community-based trial comparing the influence of different methods of high BP education on high BP and HBPM compliance. All trial participants received a home BP unit with built-in capability to save BP data and transmit it via telephone. The participants were instructed to measure their BP three times upon waking and another three times at bedtime at least twice a week. Participants whose transmitted data showed full compliance at least 24 of 48 weeks were considered highly compliant. Participants with low compliance were fully compliant for less than 8 weeks of the study. Control of high BP was based on HBPM during the last 2 months of the study. The study was funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS13160).

More details are in "Compliance with home blood pressure monitoring among middle-aged Korean Americans with hypertension," by Jiyun Kim, Ph.D., Hae-Ra Han, Ph.D., Heejung Song, Ph.D., and others in the April 2010 Journal of Clinical Hypertension 12(4); pp. 253-260.

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