Differences in knowledge, attitude and behavior with respect to hypertension among cardiologists, neurologists and other physicians in internal medicine

Abstract

It is known that the knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) of physicians with respect to hypertension directly affect the prevention of hypertension and associated cardiovascular diseases. To investigate the differences in KAB among cardiologists, neurologists and other physicians, 1,722 potential participants were selected by stratified random sampling. Among these, 1,609 participants took part in the present survey, and 948 of this group were eligible for the present analysis. The data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire. Results showed that, with respect to knowledge and attitude regarding hypertension, 15.3% of cardiologists, 15.2% of neurologists and 7.2% of other internals selected the correct answers to all questions (p<0.05). The criteria of hypertension were not correctly understood by about two-thirds of physicians, including both cardiologists and neurologists. With regard to behavior, 16.5% of cardiologists, 17.9% of neurologists and 9.6% of other internals selected the correct answers to all questions (p<0.05). A majority of physicians considered that routine blood pressure measurements were not necessary in cases uncomplicated by cardiovascular disease and other disease, such as nephrotic disease, or diabetes mellitus. One-half to two-thirds of physicians did not believe that life style modifications reduce blood pressure. For each question, cardiologists showed the highest, and other internals the lowest, percentage of correct responses to all items in the questionnaire. These findings indicate that cardiovascular health education must be strengthened for all physicians, and not only for specialists.