Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Physicians in the Treatment of Hypertension in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Background and Objectives Hypertension is a global health hazard most of which are first attended to by the medical officers. Achieving a control will depend on the knowledge, attitude and practice of the medical officers. We therefore determined the knowledge, attitude and practices of medical officers on systemic hypertension in the North-Central region of Nigeria. Design and Methods It is a questionnaire based cross-sectional study of 100 of the 254 Medical officers that attended a continuing medical education lecture series in Bida. Results The mean age of the medical officers was 41.05 (plus or minus) 8.71 years, 59 (73.8%) were males. Fourty (50%) of them has practiced for more than 10 years. Hypertension is considered to be an important health hazard by 93.8% while 30% believed that it should not be referred to a specialist. Despite the high reliance on alternative medications in the society for the treatment of hypertension, only 1.2% agreed to nondrug treatment. Measurement of blood pressure is only done routinely by 56% of the medical officers with 63.8% indulging in self treatment of hypertension, Most of the knowledge on hypertension is through drug companies and advertisement, and 73.8% believed that scientific programs is a better way to gather information regarding the treatment of hypertension. Conclusion The knowledge, attitude and practice of medical officers are important in the management of hypertension. Organizing scientific programs on periodic basis to educate the medical officers on the treatment is therefore advised.