Objective: To evaluate barriers to adherence to hypertension guidelines among publicly employed general practitioners (GPs).
Design: Questionnaire-based survey distributed to GPs in 24 randomly selected primary care centres in the Region of Skåne in southern Sweden.
Subjects: A total of 109 GPs received a self-administered questionnaire and 90 of them responded.
Main outcome measures: Use of risk assessment programmes. Reasons to postpone or abstain from pharmacological treatment for the management of hypertension.
Results: Reported managing of high blood pressure (BP) varied. In all, 53% (95% CI 42-64%) of the GPs used risk assessment programmes and nine out of 10 acknowledged blood pressure target levels. Only one in 10 did not inform the patients about these levels. The range for immediate initiating pharmacological treatment was a systolic BP 140-220 (median 170) mmHg and diastolic BP 90-110 (median 100) mmHg. One-third (32%; 95% CI 22-42%) of the GPs postponed or abstained from pharmacological treatment of hypertension due to a patient's advanced age. No statistically significant associations were observed between GPs' gender, professional experience (i.e. in terms of specialist family medicine and by number of years in practice), and specific reasons to postpone or abstain from pharmacological treatment of hypertension.
Conclusion: These data suggest that GPs accept higher blood pressure levels than recommended in clinical guidelines. Old age of the patient seems to be an important barrier among GPs when considering pharmacological treatment for the management of hypertension.