Ivo Abraham1,2, Christopher Lee1,2, MinKyoung Song1,3, Stefaan Vancayzeele4, Heidi Brié4, Christine Hermans4, Patricia Van der Niepen5, Karen MacDonald21University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; 2Matrix45, Earlysville, VA, USA; 3School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 4Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; 5Novartis Pharma, Vilvoorde, BelgiumObjective: Vulnerability profiling, an alternative to deterministic risk assessment, offers clinicians a more intuitive but empirically-grounded assessment of patient risk. This study aimed to determine whether a heuristic profile of high vulnerability is an independent predictor of uncontrolled hypertension.Methods: Secondary analysis of prospective observational study data on 2999 hypertensive patients treated with valsartan. Predictive validity of vulnerability profiling for first-line, secondline, and first-or-second-line antihypertensive treatment was inferred from 1) logistic regression models with adequate statistical fit, 2) statistically significant odds ratios for uncontrolled BP for the high-vulnerability cluster exceeding 1.00, and 3) correct classification rates for patients’ BP control status.Results: All models of uncontrolled BP were significant (P