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South Australian hypertension survey: General practitioner experiences with drug treatment
Author(s) -
Steven Ian D,
Beilby Justin,
Coffey Gregory A,
Golding Allan P,
Graham Neil M H,
Wilson David H,
Wakefield Melanie A,
Esterman Adrian J,
Rohrsheim Richard A,
Litt John C B
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1992.tb121462.x
Subject(s) - diuretic , medicine , drug , pharmacotherapy , drug treatment , ace inhibitor , family medicine , antihypertensive drug , alternative medicine , hypertension treatment , angiotensin converting enzyme , physical therapy , intensive care medicine , pharmacology , blood pressure , pathology
Objective To investigate prescribing habits, educational approaches and perceived needs of general practitioners in the drug treatment of hypertension. Design, setting and participants Of 156 randomly selected South Australian general practitioners 132 responded to a questionnaire survey. Main findings Diuretics are the most commonly chosen drug for the initial management of uncomplicated moderate hypertension. Equivalent patients aged 45, 60 and 75 years would be prescribed a diuretic as drug of first choice in 41%, 55% and 68% of cases respectively. Despite this, there are wide differences in the choice of initial therapy between individual practitioners. These differences can have a substantial cost impact, given that in Australia the cost of diuretic therapy for one month can be as low as $1.97 compared with $34.08 for standard angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor therapy for one month. There was also a perceived need, and demand, for patient education materials to assist practitioners in the drug treatment of hypertension.