Abstract
P-578: Relationship between physician knowledge of hypertension and blood pressure control
American journal of hypertension, Vol.18(S4), pp.218A-218A
05/2005
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjhyper.2005.03.595
Abstract
It is commonly believed that a major reason for poor adherence to hypertension guidelines is insufficient knowledge of the guidelines on the part of physicians. We have developed a knowledge questionnaire (KQ) to examine physician knowledge with JNC-7. The KQ had 35 questions and 5 domains (diagnosis, goals, treatment, monitoring, adverse drug reactions). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between physician knowledge and blood pressure control in up to 20 randomly selected patients from each physician's practice. Systolic blood pressures (SBP) were averaged for each physician and the overall BP (both SBP and DBP) control rate was calculated for each physician. There were 32 physicians from 2 clinics and 613 patients in the sample. The mean SBP was 140.9 ± 5.6 mm Hg. The percent of patients with controlled BP (both SBP and DBP) was 43% (range 20–80% depending on physician). The mean correct response on the KQ was 70% (range 54–94%). There was a strong inverse relationship between BP control rates and correct responses on the KQ (−0.532, p=0.002). There was also a strong correlation between correct responses on the KQ and higher SBP (0.515, p=0.003). When examining specific domains in the KQ, only the treatment and adverse drug event domains were significant. The better the score on the treatment domain, the lower the BP control rates (−0.573, p=0.0006) and the higher the SBP (0.529, p=0.002). The better the score on the adverse reaction domain the lower the BP control rates (-0.439) and the higher the SBP (0.445, p=0.011). These findings would imply that higher knowledge of JNC-7, as measured by this tool, is associated with poorer BP control. It is more likely that the explanation for these results is that physician knowledge is a necessary, but not sufficient, factor in achieving good BP control. Other patient factors such as social, economic, demographic variables, or health system barriers, are likely to be far more important predictors of BP control. Additional research should be conducted in larger physician populations to evaluate these relationships.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- P-578: Relationship between physician knowledge of hypertension and blood pressure control
- Creators
- Barry L. CarterWilliam R. DoucetteGeorge BergusArthur HartzJanyce J. Stewart
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Publication Details
- American journal of hypertension, Vol.18(S4), pp.218A-218A
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.amjhyper.2005.03.595
- ISSN
- 0895-7061
- eISSN
- 1879-1905
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2005
- Academic Unit
- Pharmacy Practice and Science; Family Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984366402802771
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