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Adherence to Recommended Laboratory Testing for Hypertension: Insights from a Nationwide Cohort

Maximilian C Volk1, Ahmad Safdar1, Omer Ashruf2

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

American Journal of Hypertension
|May 21, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Laboratory testing rates for newly diagnosed hypertension patients in the U.S. are low. Older patients and females showed disparities in receiving recommended tests like CBC and ECG.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Clinical Diagnostics
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Guideline-recommended laboratory testing for hypertension (HTN) is crucial for patient management.
  • The actual prevalence of these tests in newly diagnosed HTN patients in the U.S. is not well-documented.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the prevalence of guideline-recommended laboratory testing in patients newly diagnosed with hypertension.
  • To identify potential disparities in testing based on patient demographics.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of the TriNetX database (2018-2023) including over 2 million adults.
  • Patients newly diagnosed with hypertension were assessed for tests like CBC, BMP/CMP, lipid profile, TSH, fasting glucose, urinalysis, and ECG within six months of diagnosis.
  • Analysis stratified by age, sex, race, and ethnicity.

Main Results:

  • Low completion rates observed for all recommended tests, with lipid profiles (17.0%) and fasting glucose (9.6%) being the lowest.
  • Older patients (≥65 years) demonstrated higher testing rates for most parameters.
  • Female sex was associated with lower rates for several tests, including CBC and ECG, but higher for TSH and urinalysis.

Conclusions:

  • The prevalence of recommended laboratory testing in newly diagnosed hypertension patients is significantly low.
  • Disparities in testing rates exist across different age groups and sexes, highlighting potential inequities in care.
  • Further research is needed to understand and address these testing gaps.
Abstract

Keywords:
ageblood pressureepidemiologyethnicityhypertensionlaboratory testingracesex

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