Current management of hypertension in general practice

Abstract

An examination of the notes of 697 patients in a random sample of seven general practices in one part of inner London showed that 164 (24%) of 669 had had a blood-pressure recording in a five-year period. Proportions varied between 4% and 36% in the different practices. The blood pressure was raised (systolic 160 mm Hg or diastolic 100 mm Hg or both) in 74 patients (45%) whose blood pressure had been recorded, and another recording had subsequently been made in 45 (61%) of these patients. Fifteen (21%) of those with hypertension had not had a blood-pressure recording during the five years before the study. Tranquillisers or sedatives were the commonest drugs used in the treatment of hypertension. As in a study of the management of hypertension in hospital,1opportunities provided by visits to the general practitioner were not commonly used for blood-pressure screening, and the discovery of hypertension often did not lead to further action. © 1977, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.