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BACKGROUND

Therapeutic inertia is a major cause of uncontrolled hypertension. The aim of our work study is to describe the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of primary care physicians in the management of hypertension and to describe the factors of therapeutic inertia.

METHODS

This was a descriptive study among primary care physicians conducted through an online questionnaire created using Google Forms during the period from March 15 to May 15, 2022.

RESULTS

Our population included 232 physicians with an average age of 39 years. They mainly worked in the public sector (83%). Only 24% of the physicians knew the diagnostic thresholds for hypertension using all methods. Fifty percent knew the therapeutic objectives. Initiation with monotherapy was chosen by 49% of physicians. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and calcium channel blockers were chosen by 79.3% and 60.8% of physicians, respectively. The main reasons for therapeutic inertia were cost (78.4%), drug shortage (72.8%), non-adherence to therapy (61.2%), follow-up by another specialist (46.5%), fear of side effects of antihypertensive drugs (48.7%), patient's age (40.5%), lack of organization of patient follow-up (36.6%), and the presence of other comorbidities (35%). Renal failure was the main comorbidity involved (78.4%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study concludes that there was a lack of knowledge and application of the new recommendations for hypertension. It would be necessary to promote continuous training of primary care physicians, to insist on therapeutic education of patients, to reform the public health system in Tunisia to cover the provisions of hypertensive patients, and to introduce combination therapy.