A failure to launch: blood pressure control after stroke in a regional health system

The objective of this report is to characterize BP control among patients six months post stroke and measure time to first visit. Patients were discharged from the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) and had visits in the EPIC system supported by YNHHS. The primary outcome was systolic blood pressure (SBP) values ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >90 mmHg during the visit closest to and before 6 months from hospitalization. The analysis included 3339 patients. The average proportion of patients with SBP values ≥140 mmHg or ≥DBP 90 mmHg was 31%. The average proportion of SBP values ≥130 mmHg or ≥DBP 80 mmHg mm Hg was 61%. Among patients who had a primary care professional visit within 1 year, 55.3% did not have any visit with a neurologist within 1 year. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report poststroke BP control from a regional health system that is not self-insured or operating under a global budget.