ACSC Indicator: testing reliability for hypertension.

Background: With high-quality community-based primary care, hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) are considered avoidable. The purpose of this study was to test the inter-physician reliability of judgments of avoidable hospitalizations for one ACSC, uncomplicated hypertension, derived from medical chart review.

Methods: We applied the Canadian Institute for Health Information's case definition to obtain a random sample of patients who had an ACSC hospitalization for uncomplicated hypertension in Calgary, Alberta.

Standards for the uniform reporting of hypertension in adults using population survey data: recommendations from the World Hypertension League Expert Committee.

Surveillance and monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors including raised blood pressure are critical to informing efforts to prevent and control cardiovascular disease. Yet, many countries lack the capacity for adequate national surveillance. Furthermore, hypertension indicators are often reported in different ways, which hampers the ability to compare and assess progress.