Blacks, Hispanics With Hypertension May Not Receive Adequate Diuretic Treatment.

MedPage Today  (1/25, Kaiser) reports, "Blacks and Hispanics who are hypertensive may not be receiving adequate diuretic treatment," according to two studies published in the American Journal of Hypertension. "In the first study  (PDF), which included black patients with uncontrolled hypertension, only 46% of them were prescribed a diuretic, according to Linda M. Gerber, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and colleagues." Meanwhile, "in the second study  (PDF), blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic minority patients with hypertension and on dialysis were about 25% less likely to have 'exposure' to each of four common classes of blood pressure medications such as beta-blockers and calcium-channel blockers compared with whites, reported Theresa I. Shireman, PhD, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kans., and colleagues."