Public Health, Hypertension, and the Emergency Department.

Hypertension (HTN) is the most common cardiovascular disease worldwide and is associated with severe long-term morbidity when not treated appropriately. Despite this, blood pressure (BP) control remains suboptimal, particularly among underserved populations and those who rely on emergency departments (EDs) as a source of primary care. ED providers encounter patients with severely elevated BP daily, and yet adherence to minimal standards of BP reassessment and referral to outpatient medical care, as recommended by the American College of Emergency Physicians, is limited.

Health Literacy and Access to Care.

Despite well-documented links between low health literacy, low rates of health insurance coverage, and poor health outcomes, there has been almost no research on the relationship between low health literacy and self-reported access to care. This study analyzed a large, nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults ages 50 and older to estimate the relationship between low health literacy and self-reported difficulty obtaining care. We found that individuals with low health literacy were significantly more likely than individuals with adequate health literacy to delay or forgo needed care or to report difficulty finding a provider, even after we controlled for other factors, including health insurance coverage, employment, race/ethnicity, poverty, and general cognitive function.