Adherence of primary health care physicians to hypertension management guidelines in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia

Joint Authors

Mustafa, Usamah A.
Mahfuz, Ahmad A. R.
Abd al-Munim, Ismail
Dayf Allah, Asim
al-Amiri, Hasan S.
Khan, Muhammad Yunus
al-Khalidi, Yahya Matar
Al Gelban, Khalid S.

Source

Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation

Issue

Vol. 22, Issue 5 (31 Oct. 2011), pp.941-948, 8 p.

Publisher

Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation

Publication Date

2011-10-31

Country of Publication

Saudi Arabia

No. of Pages

8

Main Subjects

Medicine

Topics

Abstract EN

Although there has been significant progress in the management of hypertension, rates for control of this chronic disease in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been shown to be very low.

This study was aimed to assess the knowledge of primary health care (PHC) physicians and the extent of their adherence to the recommendations of clinical practice guidelines concerning care of hypertensive patients.

The assessment was made in the Asser region of KSA using a modified version of the World Health Organization “Physician Inquiry Questionnaire.” Only 5.6% of the participants measured blood pressure (BP) with the patient in sitting and other postures.

Variable sphygmomanometer cuff sizes for different patients were used by 56.5% of the participants, while 74.8% correctly recorded the diastolic BP at Karat off sound, phase-5.

Among non-diabetics, the correct diagnosis of systolic and diastolic hypertension was reported by 76.7% and 81.4% respectively, of the PHC physicians.

Among diabetics, the correct diagnosis of systolic and diastolic hypertension was reported by 36% and 17.1% of the PHC physicians, respectively.

Most physicians inquired about cardiovascular risk factors.

Several important items of patients’ clinical examination were not completely covered by physicians, e.g., fundus exam-nation (75.2%).

PHC physicians missed a few investigations and laboratory tests, e.g., ECG (87.9%), serum cretonne (88.2%) and lipid profile (89.8%).

Less than one-fifth of the physicians correctly chose the thiazide diuretics as the preferred initial anti-hypertensive agent (19.9%).

Almost two-thirds of the physicians (65.2%) emphasized the importance of BP self-measurement, 89.8% encouraged patients to use a reminder system while 96.3% motivated patients for BP control.

Measures for lifestyle modification included weight reduction (98.8%), sodium restriction (97.5%), physical exercise (96.3%) and behavioral improvement (87.6%).

Our study suggests that continuing medical education and training courses on guidelines for hypertension management should be arranged for PHC physicians in Asser.

American Psychological Association (APA)

Al Gelban, Khalid S.& Khan, Muhammad Yunus& al-Khalidi, Yahya Matar& Mahfuz, Ahmad A. R.& Abd al-Munim, Ismail& Dayf Allah, Asim…[et al.]. 2011. Adherence of primary health care physicians to hypertension management guidelines in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation،Vol. 22, no. 5, pp.941-948.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-268106

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Al Gelban, Khalid S.…[et al.]. Adherence of primary health care physicians to hypertension management guidelines in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation Vol. 22, no. 5 (Oct. 2011), pp.941-948.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-268106

American Medical Association (AMA)

Al Gelban, Khalid S.& Khan, Muhammad Yunus& al-Khalidi, Yahya Matar& Mahfuz, Ahmad A. R.& Abd al-Munim, Ismail& Dayf Allah, Asim…[et al.]. Adherence of primary health care physicians to hypertension management guidelines in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation. 2011. Vol. 22, no. 5, pp.941-948.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-268106

Data Type

Journal Articles

Language

English

Notes

Includes bibliographical references : p. 947-948

Record ID

BIM-268106