title: Do clinicians tell patients they have prehypertension?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  the clinical utility of the prehypertension label is questionable. We sought to estimate how often patients with prehypertension are being told about it by their primary care clinicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  we conducted a cross-sectional study of adult patients visiting practices within the North Carolina Family Medicine Research Network in summer 2008. Non-hypertensive patients were asked whether a doctor or other health care provider had ever told them they had "prehypertension"; a subsample of patients with measured blood pressure (BP) in the prehypertension range was asked the same question.
  
  
  RESULTS
  of 1008 non-hypertensive patients, 1.9% indicated being told they had prehypertension. Among a subsample of 102 patients with measured BP in the prehypertension range, 2.0% indicated being told they had prehypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  few patients who probably have prehypertension are being told about it by clinicians.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Viera
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bangura
authors.forename: C Madeline
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerna
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sloane
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D037001:Directive Counseling; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D009657:North Carolina; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058246:Prehypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014342:Truth Disclosure