Photo of Bruce Springsteen Blue Cross Arena concert by Lef Carroll. Used with permission.
Over the past five years, the percentage of adults in the Finger Lakes region who have their high blood pressure under control has increased 4.5 percent.
Based on hypertension estimates, that improvement in control rates translates to 15,891 additional individuals in our 9-county region who have lowered their high blood pressure to 140/90 millimeters of mercury or less. For the record, that’s more people than have ever filled Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. The steady progress since 2013 brings the region’s high blood pressure control rate to 78.6 percent.
The good news is part of the latest high blood pressure registry report. Updated twice a year by Common Ground Health, the registry includes de-identified clinical data from 225,685 patients, representing 64 percent of hypertensives in our nine county Finger Lakes region. The innovative data tool provides an objective way to track progress on high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart disease, stroke and kidney failure and a major driver of preventable health care expenditures.
The registry helps identify trouble spots, like lagging improvement for residents in high poverty ZIP codes, and it guides interventions in churches, barbershops and salons and doctor’s offices through the High Blood Pressure Collaborative, a community-wide health campaign supported by the region’s largest employers, hospitals and health insurance companies.
To view other highlights from the full June 2-17 registry, click here.