Identifying hypertension using the Ohio Blood Pressure History Survey

Although medical survey studies often rely on self-reported symptoms to est ablish the presence or absence of clinical conditions in respondents, recen t findings suggest that surveys that assess a broad range of symptoms may h ave limited sensitivity in detecting specific clinical conditions such as h ypertension. The present study evaluated the accuracy of a blood pressure h istory survey mailed to 800 men and women who had received treatment at a m ilitary medical facility in the previous year. Compared with their medical records, patient reports of a previous diagnosis of hypertension exhibited an overall accuracy of 94.2%, This high level of overall accuracy was assoc iated with equally high proportions of correct identifications of high bloo d pressure histories (sensitivity = 95.4%) and normal blood pressure histor ies (specificity = 92.4%), Our findings indicate that the Ohio Blood Pressu re History Survey is a highly accurate measure of hypertension history amon g active and retired military personnel.