Clinical InvestigationOutcomes, Health Policy, and Managed CareBeyond insurance coverage: Usual source of care in the treatment of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Data from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Section snippets
Study design and data source
Data come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, NHANES collects detailed health and nutritional data on a nationally representative, multistage probability sample of the noninstitutionalized civilian population of the United States. NHANES includes both an in-home interview and a clinical examination at a mobile examination center (MEC). A subsample of respondents, selected at random with a specified sampling
Results
Among adults ≥35 years old, 46.5% had an indication for antihypertension therapy (3,142 individuals; representing approximately 58.79 million persons) and 40.0% had an indication for an LLM (1,134 individuals; representing approximately 50.6 million persons). The proportion of adults who were untreated was high in both the hypertension (32.4%) and hypercholesterolemia (42.0%) groups.
Most adults reported having a USOC (hypertension group 93.1%, hypercholesterolemia group 93.6%), comparable to
Discussion
In this recent, nationally representative sample, not having a USOC is independently associated with being untreated for 2 common cardiovascular risk factors, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. This effect was observed among adults with and without insurance coverage. These findings support our hypothesis that USOC and insurance coverage have independent effects on the treatment of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia and suggest the possibility that having a USOC might promote better
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Efficacy of enhanced emergency department discharge for chronic hypertension management – Results of a randomized controlled trial
2020, Contemporary Clinical Trials CommunicationsCitation Excerpt :Research has shown that strategies to support chronic disease management with appropriate therapy for patients with hypertension are critical. Beyond the study design, efforts to improve chronic disease management should facilitate access to a regular source of care [24], which was done in our study. The research short-term outcome of two-thirds of our high-risk patients having their BP under control at six months underscores the importance of primary care linkage to assure long-term hypertension management.
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2018, Clinics and Research in Hepatology and GastroenterologyFactors associated with loss of usual source of care among older adults
2018, Annals of Family MedicineCitation Excerpt :As older adults disproportionately experience chronic conditions2,3 and frequently utilize health care services, access to a usual source of medical care (USC), is particularly important in effective management of their care.4 A robust evidence base demonstrates that persons with a USC are more likely to receive appropriate chronic disease treatment5–8 and have better disease control.9–12 Having a USC has also been linked to increased receipt of preventive health services,13–16 fewer emergency department visits,17 and fewer unmet medical needs such as inability to renew needed medications.18