BMJ 1996;313:1203 (9 November)

Letters

Audit in Mid-Glamorgan also shows major problems with management of hypertension

EDITOR,--T P Fahey and T J Peters's paper highlights the fact that blood pressure guidelines vary considerably in the way they determine control of hypertension.1 Colleagues and I are currently carrying out an audit of hypertensive patients, and I report here some preliminary data on our findings from this audit in Upper Rhondda Fawr, Mid-Glamorgan.

The audit involves five local practices and 10 community pharmacists, who regularly assess control of blood pressure and other, related variables in patients being treated for hypertension. Fahey and Peters studied 876 treated hypertensive patients in Oxford, to whom a range of different hypertension management guidelines were applied. When the guideline criteria of the British Hypertension Society,2 regarded as a British standard, were applied 417 (48%) of the Oxford patients were found to have well controlled blood pressure.

Our audit findings to date suggest a similar, high level of failure of treatment. Preliminary results for . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

What constitutes controlled hypertension? Patient based comparison of hypertension guidelines
T P Fahey and T J Peters
BMJ 1996 313: 93-96. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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