OUTCOME OF HYPERTENSION MANAGEMENT IN ASIAN-AMERICANS

Background: Ethnic and/or racial differences in drug response to antih ypertensive agents have been recognized, yet the prescribing practices and the information on efficacy of various agents rely mainly on the response of whites to drugs. Objectives: To assess the management of h ypertension in Asian Americans and to compare it with an age- and sex- matched group of white patients with hypertension. Methods: The patien ts' medical records were used as the primary source of information for the data collection. The observational period was a 12-month window a nd included 200 patients of Asian origin with hypertension and 196 whi te patients with hypertension whose medical records were randomly sele cted. Results: The study describes the pattern of use of antihypertens ive agents and the differences in response to antihypertensive agents between Asian Americans and whites. The preferred antihypertensive age nts in both Asian and white patients included monotherapy with either calcium channel blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. However, medication changes, dose reduction, and the experience of sid e effects were all significantly more frequently recorded in Asian pat ients than in white patients (P<.001, P<.008, and P<.002, respectively ). Conclusions: These findings are supportive of some previous reports on ethnic differences in drug response to antihypertensive agents. Th e findings also point to the need for further prospective studies on t he outcome of hypertension management in Asian American patients.