Practice and awareness of physicians regarding casual-clinic blood pressure measurement in Japan.
The optimal procedure for casual-clinic blood pressure (CBP) measurement is outlined in the 2004 Japanese guidelines. We investigated the status of physicians' practices and their awareness of CBP measurement immediately and 4 years after the publication of the guidelines using a questionnaire regarding CBP. This survey was conducted among physicians who attended educational seminars on hypertension in 2004-2005 and in 2007-2008; the questionnaire was distributed, completed and collected just before the start of the seminars. Of the 1966 respondents to the 2004-2005 survey and the 2995 respondents to the 2007-2008 survey, the proportion of physicians who answered that CBP was more important than self-measured BP at home (home BP) was less than 10% in both surveys. The proportion of physicians who used a mercury sphygmomanometer (68.1-75.5%) was higher than those who used an automatic and electronic sphygmomanometer (20.7-29.0%) in both surveys. However, the use of an automatic and electronic sphygmomanometer slightly increased from 20.7% in 2004-2005 to 29.0% in 2007-2008. Physicians who were younger or working in a hospital were less likely to measure CBP using the conditions of the guidelines. Approximately 50% of physicians correctly recognized the reference values of hypertension based on CBP measurement (systolic/diastolic, 140/90 mm Hg) in both surveys. The status of physicians' practice and awareness of CBP measurement varied by physicians' age, specialty and work place and those situations did not change over 4 years, underlying the importance of clarifying factors inherent in these situations.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Mitsuru
M
Kobayashi
Taku
T
Obara
Takayoshi
T
Ohkubo
Hidefumi
H
Fukunaga
Michihiro
M
Satoh
Hirohito
H
Metoki
Kei
K
Asayama
Ryusuke
R
Inoue
Masahiro
M
Kikuya
Nariyasu
N
Mano
Masaaki
M
Miyakawa
Yutaka
Y
Imai
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires