Drug therapy of arterial hypertension: assessment of the physicians’ basic knowledge. Final results of the PHYSTARH project

Background. Arterial hypertension is a multifactorial disease accompanied by an increase in systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure above the established values. Uncontrolled blood pressure can cause various complications, which will lead to either disability or death of the patient. Aim. To assess the compliance of the level of doctors’ knowledge with current clinical guidelines in the treatment of arterial hypertension. Materials and methods. Within the framework of the PHYSTARH multicenter study, we presented the results of an anonymous prospective survey to assess the level of physicians’ knowledge and pharmacotherapeutic preferences in the treatment of arterial hypertension. Results. The study involved 425 physicians from 9 regions of Russia: Belgorod, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, Moscow, Krasnodar Territory, Primorye Territory, the Republic of Adygea and Tatarstan. In the course of the analysis, we revealed an insufficiently high level of the respondents’ knowledge in the treatment of arterial hypertension. Less than half of the respondents chose the indication of combination therapy as a therapeutic intervention in which the effectiveness of lowering blood pressure increases about 5 times more than when the dose of the original drug is doubled; correctly indicated the pharmacological group for the proposed drug (methyldopa), determined the indication for the use of aspirin in patients with hypertension, selected the optimal antihypertensive therapy for the proposed clinical situations, indicated absolutely contraindicated antihypertensive drugs in pregnancy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusion. The need for additional educational activities among physicians was established to improve the quality of knowledge on the basic aspects of hypertension, because a significant number of key questions on this topic cause difficulties for respondents.

arterial hypertension, arterial hypertension treatment, level of physicians’ knowledge, pharmacotherapeutic preferences, education programs for doctors, anonymous survey

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