77% OF ADULT PATIENTS, SEEN BY HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS, NOW HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

OM1 releases big data analyses of impact of new blood pressure guidelines

BOSTON, November 20, 2017 — OM1, a leading AI health outcomes and data company focused on making healthcare more measured, precise and pre-emptive, today announced the release of big data analyses on the impact of the new American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) high blood pressure guidelines.

On November 13, the ACC and AHA released new guidelines for the detection, prevention, management and treatment of high blood pressure.  These guidelines represent the first comprehensive update since 2003 and lowers the definition of high blood pressure to promote early intervention and prevention of hypertension related complications.

Using the OM1 Intelligent Data Cloud, which houses the largest, most extensively linked, clinically deep, representative and continually updated sets of healthcare information from the United States healthcare system, OM1 rapidly performed preliminary analyses to evaluate the impact of the new ACC/AHA Hypertension Guidelines on ~19 million adults (≥20 years) with more than 120 million blood pressure measurements, who had been seen for a scheduled visit over the last year. This is in contrast to NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), which is not limited to those seeking medical care. Key initial findings include:

  • In adult patients who had at least one blood pressure measurement in a doctor’s office between 2013 and 2017, the proportion of patients who met criteria for elevated blood pressure/hypertension under the new guidelines increased from 47% to 77%.
  • The biggest impact was seen in younger patients aged 45 years and younger, where the number of patients with hypertension more than doubled
  • Half of the patients meeting criteria for elevated blood pressure/hypertension under the new guidelines had a diagnosis of hypertension and 40% received anti-hypertensive medications

“The new guidelines have a significant impact on the health care system with substantial increases in the number of patients now newly eligible for diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr. Richard Gliklich, CEO of OM1. “Big data analytics allow healthcare stakeholders to rapidly identify and look more closely at those patients facing a gap in care due to inadequate control of their blood pressure.”