Some socioeconomic factors in the selection of blood pressure drugs in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Socioeconomic factors are important in the selection of drug therapy for hypertension in New Orleans. With a preponderance of blacks, and an economic recession in the city, the availability of a large variety of effective and relatively safe hypertensive medications does not in itself solve the problem of providing a lifetime of antihypertensive medication. We must know our patients well and take into consideration income, age, home environment, and family situation. Only then can drug therapy that is appropriate to this complex milieu be prescribed.