Thresholds for taking antihypertensive drugs in different professional and lay groups: questionnaire survey

Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but patients' compliance with medication is low. Patients may be less likely to take antihypertensive drugs if they have accurate information about their levels of risk.1 Doctors who estimate the risk more accurately are less likely to recommend treatment.2 It is not known whether a patient's professional background affects his or her threshold for complying with treatment. The study compared the threshold at which consultant physicians, general practitioners, nurses attached to a general practice, and the general population would start taking antihypertensive drugs. A postal questionnaire asked whether or not respondents would take drugs if one life would be saved for every 12, 33, 50, 100, or 250 people treated for five years. This gave six thresholds of numbers needed to treat (<12 to 250). A pilot study showed that a sample …