Blood pressure in different ethnic groups (BP-Eth): a mixed methods study

Sally Wood, Una Martin, Paramjit Gill, Sheila M Greenfield, M Sayeed Haque, Jonathan Mant, Mohammed A Mohammed, Gurdip Heer, Amanpreet Johal, Ramandeep Kaur, Claire Schwartz, Richard J McManus

People of South Asian, African-Caribbean and Irish ethnicity are known to have worse cardiovascular outcomes than those from the white British group. While the reasons underpinning this are complex, the effect of hypertension is both significant and modifiable. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in and uptake of 'out-of-office' methods for blood pressure (BP) monitoring. However, guidance in this area has been largely based on research among the white population. This study aims to answer the following questions: (1) How often and in what ways does blood pressure (BP) monitoring occur and how does this differ between white and the above minority ethnic populations. (2) Are the thresholds for diagnosis of hypertension, and treatment targets in hypertension comparable for white British and minority ethnic populations using different measurement modalities: office blood pressure, ambulatory BP monitoring and home monitoring? (3) What preferences for BP measurement do people from white and minority ethnic populations have?