Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: Young adults, especially men, may experience delays in diagnosis of hypertension, which subsequently affect timely treatment and control of high blood pressure (BP).
Question: Compared with young adult women, how soon are young adult men diagnosed with hypertension after having high BPs during clinical encounters?
Aim: To estimate the time to first diagnosis of hypertension in young adult men and women, and to identify factors associated with a delayed diagnosis of hypertension.
Methods: Using electronic health records, we identified adults aged 18-39 years with systolic BP ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic BP ≥90 mm Hg, based on average of three consecutive separate outpatient BPs within two years of each other, between 2009-2016 from Kaiser Permanente Southern California. We followed them from the third qualifying BP until hypertension diagnosis, membership disenrollment, end of study (12/31/2019), or death, whichever occurred first. We used the cumulative incidence function and Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the time to first diagnosis of hypertension and identify factors associated with diagnosis.
Results: Among 2,443 young adults (mean age 31 years, 57% men) with high BP, 37% were diagnosed with hypertension during a median of 5.9 years. Compared with women, a lower percentage of men were diagnosed with hypertension (30% vs 47%) and men received their diagnoses later (median time to diagnosis: 2.3 vs 1.4 years) (Figure). Among the total population, 19% of men and 12% of women did not have follow-up BP measures within one year following their third qualifying high BP. Among those diagnosed, 80% initiated with antihypertensive medications within one year following their diagnosis. Factors associated with a delayed diagnosis of hypertension included being male, younger, having lower systolic or diastolic BP, a lower body mass index, and the absence of dyslipidemia or (pre)diabetes.
Conclusion: This study highlights that young adult men are at a higher risk of delayed hypertension diagnosis, emphasizing the need for healthcare system level interventions to improve the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertension in this population.