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Achieving Health Equity in Hypertension Management Through Addressing the Social Determinants of Health

  • Hypertension and Emergency Medicine (T Rainer and P Levy, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Hypertension Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

The goals of this paper were to examine recent literature on the social determinants of health as they relate to hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and discuss relevance to the practice of emergency medicine.

Recent Findings

Social determinants of health, defined by the World Health Organization as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age” (https://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/en/) play a complex role in the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease and the persistence of racial disparities in related health outcomes. Deciphering the independent association between minority status and social determinants in the United States is challenging. As a result, much of the recent interventional work has targeted populations by race or ethnicity in order to address these disparities.

Summary

There is opportunity to expand the work on social determinants of health and hypertension. This includes exploring innovative approaches to identifying at-need individuals and breaking down traditional siloes to develop multidimensional interventions. New funding and payment mechanisms will allow for providers and health systems to identify and target modifiable social determinants of health at the level of the individual patient to improve outcomes.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Shannon K. Doyle

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, 1025 Walnut St., Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA, 19147, USA

    Anna Marie Chang & Kristin L. Rising

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine and Integrative Biosciences Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

    Phillip Levy

Authors
  1. Shannon K. Doyle
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  2. Anna Marie Chang
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  3. Phillip Levy
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  4. Kristin L. Rising
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Correspondence to Kristin L. Rising.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Hypertension and Emergency Medicine

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Doyle, S.K., Chang, A.M., Levy, P. et al. Achieving Health Equity in Hypertension Management Through Addressing the Social Determinants of Health. Curr Hypertens Rep 21, 58 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-019-0962-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-019-0962-7

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