(1888PressRelease)
June 10, 2009 - Postgraduate Medicine May/June issue published findings of a panel charged with examining the data from the 2003 and 2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and related literature on hypertension management in order to develop recommendations for therapeutic lifestyle changes in African Americans. The article “Strategies for Implementing and Sustaining Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes as Part of Hypertension Management in African Americans,” reports that many African Americans with hypertension are not able to achieve healthy blood pressure despite awareness and treatment options because of barriers in modifying health behaviors. A multidisciplinary medical panel, facilitated by the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB), was held to provide specific and culturally competent advice to clinicians for treating African American patients with hypertension.
The article reports that while therapeutic lifestyle change is the most common recommendation for patients with hypertension, barriers exist in achieving blood pressure control. The panel recommends a greater sense of openness between the patient and physician as a strategy to help overcome these barriers. This cooperation relies on increasing the physician’s awareness and knowledge of the cultural diversity within the African American population as well as the patient’s decision to trust their doctor by implementing recommendations.
The ISHIB panel also calls for increased communication between centralized researchers and local provider teams so doctors can customize general recommendations to their specific community. The panel calls for health care provider models where the individual is at the center of treatment focus. However, it is ultimately the willingness of the patient to make the necessary lifestyle changes needed for long-term success in controlling blood pressure. The patient is in charge of making and maintaining the changes, such as regular exercise and a healthy diet.
The full article can be accessed on Postgraduate Medicine’s website at www.postgradmed.com.
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