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?:abstract
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Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disproportionately affects individuals with hypertension and health disparities. Methods and Results We assessed experiences and beliefs of low-income and minority patients with hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N=587) from the Implementation of Multifaceted Patient-Centered Treatment Strategies for Intensive Blood Pressure Control (IMPACTS-BP) study completed a telephone survey in May and June of 2020. Participants were 65.1% Black, 59.7% female, and 57.7% reported an income below the federal poverty level. Overall, 2.7% tested positive and 15.3% lost a family member or friend to COVID-19. These experiences were significantly more common in Black (3.9% and 19.4%, respectively) than in non-Black participants (0.5% and 7.8%, respectively). Further, 14.5% lost a job and 15.9% reported food shortages during the pandemic. Most participants complied with stay-at-home orders (98.3%), social distancing (97.8%), and always wearing a mask outside their home (74.6%). Participants also reported high access to needed healthcare (94.7%) and prescription medications (97.6%). Further, 95.7% of respondents reported that they continued to take their regular dosage of antihypertensive medications. Among the 44.5% of participants receiving a healthcare appointment by telehealth, 96.6% got the help they needed, and 80.8% reported that the appointment quality was as good as or better than in-person visits. Finally, 88.9% were willing to return to their primary care clinic. Conclusions These data suggest that low-income patients, especially Black patients, were negatively impacted by COVID-19. However, most patients were able to access needed healthcare services and were willing to return to their primary care clinic for hypertension management.
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