• Alanna M Chamberlain, Rhonda M Cooper-DeHoff, Valy Fontil, Ester Kim Nilles, Kathryn M Shaw, Myra Smith, Feng Lin, Eric Vittinghoff, Carlos Maeztu, Jonathan V Todd, Thomas Carton, Emily C O'Brien, Madelaine Faulkner Modrow, Gregory Wozniak, Michael Rakotz, Eduardo Sanchez, Steven M Smith, Tamar S Polonsky, Faraz S Ahmad, Mei Liu, James C McClay, Jeffrey J VanWormer, Bradley W Taylor, Elizabeth A Chrischilles, Shenghui Wu, Anthony J Viera, Daniel E Ford, Wenke Hwang, Kirk U Knowlton, and Mark J Pletcher.
• Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Electronic address: chamberlain.alanna@mayo.edu.
• Mayo Clin. Proc. 2023 May 1; 98 (5): 662675662-675.

ObjectiveTo explore trends in blood pressure (BP) control before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Patients And MethodsHealth systems participating in the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) Blood Pressure Control Laboratory Surveillance System responded to data queries, producing 9 BP control metrics. Averages of the BP control metrics (weighted by numbers of observations in each health system) were calculated and compared between two 1-year measurement periods (January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019, and January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020).ResultsAmong 1,770,547 hypertensive persons in 2019, BP control to <140/<90 mm Hg varied across 24 health systems (range, 46%-74%). Reduced BP control occurred in most health systems with onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; the weighted average BP control was 60.5% in 2019 and 53.3% in 2020. Reductions were also evident for BP control to <130/<80 mm Hg (29.9% in 2019 and 25.4% in 2020) and improvement in BP (reduction of 10 mm Hg in systolic BP or achievement of systolic BP <140 mm Hg; 29.7% in 2019 and 23.8% in 2020). Two BP control process metrics exhibited pandemic-associated disruption: repeat visit in 4 weeks after a visit with uncontrolled hypertension (36.7% in 2019 and 31.7% in 2020) and prescription of fixed-dose combination medications among those with 2 or more drug classes (24.6% in 2019 and 21.5% in 2020).ConclusionBP control decreased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a corresponding reduction in follow-up health care visits among persons with uncontrolled hypertension. It is unclear whether the observed decline in BP control during the pandemic will contribute to future cardiovascular events.Copyright © 2023 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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