Physician attitudes to blood pressure control

OBJECTIVES: The Supporting Hypertension Awareness and Research Europe-wide (SHARE) physician survey aimed to qualify the key challenges that physicians face when trying to get patients to blood pressure (BP) goal. METHODS: The SHARE survey was open to physicians involved in the treatment of patients with hypertension, was anonymous, and was designed to take 15 min to complete. The survey included 45 questions covering physicians' demographic information, views on the BP targets recommended by the European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology guidelines, opinions on acceptable levels of BP control, and perceptions about the challenges associated with getting patients to BP goal. RESULTS: The survey was conducted between May and December 2009, and 2629 European physicians responded. The mean (± SD) levels of SBP/DBP that physicians were satisfied with, concerned about, or would cause them to take immediate action were 131.6 ± 9.5 /81.9 ± 5.6, 148.9 ± 11.3 / 91.6 ± 5.8, and 168.2 ± 17.1 / 100.1 ± 7.8 mmHg, respectively. Overall, 95.0 and 90.1% of the physicians, respectively, felt that patients SBP/DBP needed to be higher than the guideline recommended goal levels before taking immediate action. CONCLUSION: Clinical hesitation in relation to reducing elevated BP to goal levels is putting patients at increased cardiovascular risk and contributing to the substantial health and economic burden associated with uncontrolled BP. A number of strategies are discussed that have been shown to be effective in countering this problem.