[Home monitoring of blood pressure: Results of two telephone surveys at the cardiovascular hotline].
OBJECTIVE
Despite the 1.5 million blood pressure monitors sold annually in Germany only 24 % of treated hypertensives reach the goal blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg. This indicates that the care for hypertensive patients needs to be improved.


METHODS
In 1993 277 and in 2007 305 callers at the cardiovascular hotline were asked to participate in a short phone interview with identical questions in both years on self monitoring of blood pressure. Interview data from two points in time thirteen years apart permitted to look for changes in the answers.


CONCLUSIONS
Answers given at phone surveys in 1993 and 2007 revealed an increasing rate of self monitoring of blood pressure by patients. In contrast, only a limited interest of physicians was reported to introduce patients to blood pressure self monitoring. On the other hand, doctors were not consulted by patients before purchasing a blood pressure monitor. Based on the patients' self measurements drugs or their doses were changed only in one third of the cases. All this is probably caused by the limited time budget of the doctors.
Leiblein
J
J
Dominiak
P
P
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D005858:Germany; D006306:Health Surveys; D015277:Hotlines; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000639:trends; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents