Etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, and approaches to the treatment of arterial hypertension: an assessment of the physicians’ basic knowledge. Final results of the PHYSTARH project

Abstract

Introduction. Arterial hypertension (AH) is a syndrome accompanied by an increase in systolic blood pressure (BP)140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP90 mmHg. It is a progressive pathology that affects the adult employable population and leads to the development of deadly complications.
 Aim. To compare the level of physicians knowledge in AHs definition, diagnosis and treatment in different centers of Russia.
 Materials and methods. In the framework of the multicenter study PHYSTARH (the full name of the project Physicians and undergraduates knowledge in arterial hypertension treatment), which was launched in 2017, an anonymous survey was conducted among 425 doctors from 9 cities/regions of Russia (Belgorod Region, Moscow, Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Adygea, Voronezh, Primorye Territory, Tatarstan, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk).
 Results. The study revealed an insufficient level of doctors knowledge in diagnosis and treatment of AH. Less than half of the respondents correctly answered the following questions: determining hypertension by the level of home monitoring of BP (36% of physicians), determining the degree of hypertension for the proposed numerical values (37% of physicians), definition and prevalence of the refractory hypertension (33% of physicians), definition of the masked hypertension (45% of physicians), the need for drug correction of high normal BP (9% of physicians), selection of the main classes of antihypertensive drugs without clinical situations (26% of physicians).
 Conclusion. The physicians knowledge on AH is unsatisfactory, despite the prevalence of pathology and the availability of clinical guidelines, which, in our view, justifies the need for additional public education programs for doctors in different regions.