Henry Ford Health project helps Black men lower blood pressure

AMA News Wire Henry Ford Health project helps Black men lower blood pressure Oct 2, 2024 Almost half of all adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure, putting them at risk for heart disease—the leading cause of death in the country.  Of those adults with hypertension, only one in four has their blood pressure under control. Leaders at Henry Ford Health saw similar statistics in their Detroit community. There are also significant gaps in the rate of hypertension control for Black adults, and specifically for Black men between the 35 and 64 years old.  Henry Ford Health connected with about 1,000 Black men in the Detroit area who had high BP and engaged with more than one-third of them. Of that group, almost half got their BP under control within six months.  “A lot of that success was due to the fact that we were improving medication adherence, we were giving them more support in their lifestyle changes, and we were helping them navigate any barriers that they might have faced in getting connected with the services,” said Denise White Perkins, MD, PhD, chair of the family medicine department at Henry Ford Health, which is a member of the...