8,000 blacks die due to blood pressure gap - Health care- msnbc.com: ATLANTA - The lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could figure out a way to bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites, a surprising new study found.
The gap between the races in controlling blood pressure is well-known, but the resulting number of lives lost startled some scientists.
“We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated,” said the lead author, Dr. Kevin Fiscella of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The study, released Monday in the Annals of Family Medicine, is being called the first to calculate the lives lost due to racial disparities in blood pressure control.
Fiscella said he believes steps can be taken to erase that gap. But a second article in the same journal found that racial differences in blood pressure treatment persisted in England despite a national health system that provides equal access to care.
Doctors may not be providing proper care, but some black patients may not be taking prescribed medicines or following medical advice, said Christopher Millett of the Imperial College of London.
However, another researcher said it is unfair to blame the patient.
“’Compliance’ to me is a hateful word. It says, ’I the great doctor and we the great health care service inform you what needs to be done and you don’t do it because you’re stupid, you’re incompetent’... I don’t accept that at all,” said Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, professor emeritus of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
