Therapeutical inertia in hypertension patients treated by general practitioners and cardiologists in Poland

Abstract

Background There were three large population-based programs
carried out in Poland to characterize the problem of
arterial hypertension- Pol-MONICA, NATPOL and
WOBASZ. It was possible to estimate the percentage of
properly treated hypertension patients, which increased
from 12% in 2002 to 26% in 2011.

Material and methods Study concerning therapeutic inertia
in hypertension treatment among general practitioners
and cardiologists in Poland was carried out in 2009-10. It
was attended by 4195 people aged 18-92 years (mean
47.9±11.01 years), including 42.4% women and 57.6%
men. Every patient had three visits. In the study took part
246 physicians. The percentage of patients with well-controlled
hypertension was defined as the ratio of patients
currently treated for hypertension who achieved a goal
blood pressure (< 140/90 mmHg) and the total number of
participating hypertension patients.

Results The percentage of patients with systolic blood pressure
values above 140 mm Hg was during following three
visits, respectively 84.4%, 53.9% and 26.8%, and with
diastolic blood pressure values above 90 mm Hg, respectively
74.1%, 38.1% and 19.1%. In these patients, treatment
was changed during subsequent visits, respectively in
82.4%, 58% and 40.3% of cases.

Conclusions The factors that can positively influence
therapeutical inertia are: improvement of physician education
concerning arterial hypertension treatment and current
guidelines knowledge, hypertension treatment using
combination drugs, coexistence of other cardiovascular system’s
diseases, patient’s possibility to do phone or radio
reports of his blood pressure values