Black patients with high blood pressure experience poorer communication with their doctors than white patients do. The results of the study, appearing in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, showed black patients had shorter office visits, less biomedical and psychosocial exchange and less rapport building with their doctors. Poorer communication is associated with worse patient satisfaction, adherence to therapy and blood pressure control, which may lead to worse disease outcomes.  

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of Kidney Beginnings: The Electronic Newsletter.