Podcast 701: Elevated Blood Pressure Readings

<p><strong>Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Recent retrospective cohort study looked at elevated BP readings in the ED and correlation to underlying hypertension</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Large cohort of over 30,000 patients found that nearly 50% had an elevated blood pressure reading in the ED</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Less than 15% of patients with elevated BP readings in the ED were diagnosed with hypertension within 2 years</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Only 25% of patients with BP readings >160/100 were diagnosed with hypertension within 2 years</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Patients with an elevated blood pressure reading of >160/100 had only a slightly increased risk of stroke, transient ischemic attack, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, or death in the next 2 years</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">McAlister FA, Youngson E, Rowe BH. Elevated Blood Pressures Are Common in the Emergency Department but Are They Important? A Retrospective Cohort Study of 30,278 Adults. Ann Emerg Med. 2021;77(4):425-432. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.11.005</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Emergency Medical Minute offers</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">AMA PRA Category 1 credits™</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">via online course modules. For more information and to access this content,, visit our website at</span> <a href= "http://www.emergencymedicalminute.org/cme-courses"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">www.emergencymedic