Survey on knowledge of home blood pressure monitoring in community physicians of Zhejiang province / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To survey on knowledge of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) in community physicians of Zhejiang province.Methods One hundred and thirty eight community physicians from Xiacheng District of Hangzhou Municipality were assigned in intervention group (n =70) or control group (n =68).The knowledge of home blood pressure monitoring was surveyed by using the China HBPM questionnaire in both groups.Results Total 132 valid questionnaires were returned,including 70 from intervention group and 62 from control group.The results showed that 80.0％ (61/70) physicians in intervention group and 62.9％ in control group frequently suggested hypertensive patients to have HBPM in out-patient clinics (P ＜ 0.05).Physicians who correctly instructed patients to use upper arm electronic sphygmomanometer,to measure blood pressure in morning and night,to repeat 2-3 times each time,to record result 3 times,and to take ≥ 135/85 mmHg(1 mmHg =0.133 kPa) as criteria of hypertension in intervention and control groups were 67.1％ (47/70) versus 32.3％ (20/62),5.7％ (39/70) versus 29.0％ (18/62),92.9％ (65/70)versus 66.7％ (40/62),38.6％ (27/70)versus 6.4％ (4/62)and 57.1％ (40/70) versus 38.7％ (24/62),respectively,and the differences between two groups were all statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).As for measuring frequency,92.9％ (65/70) physicians in intervention group and 67.7％ (42/62) in control group considered that blood pressure should be measured every day for poorly controlled patients ; 81.4％ (61/70) versus 14.5 ％ (9/62) considered that blood pressure should be measured every week for well-controlled patients; 87.1％ versus 35.5％ (22/62) considered that blood pressure should be measured every year at least for people with normal blood pressure; there were significantly differences between two groups (P ＜ 0.05).The community physicians generally considered that HBPM can be used to improve the awareness of hypertension for patients and to increase the blood pressure control rate in community.