High BP + Depression = Clinical Inertia

Among patients with uncontrolled hypertension, those who are depressed are less likely to have their treatment intensified to achieve blood pressure goals, researchers found.

At two hospital-based primary care clinics, clinical inertia -- a lack of medication intensification, referral to a hypertension specialist, or work-up for identifiable hypertension -- occurred in 70% of patients with depression and 51% of those without depression (P=0.02), according to Nathalie Moise, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Hypertension/44693