Status of hypertension treatment in Israel.

A review of the records of 17 family practices in the Tel Aviv area showed that 31% of charts had no record of blood pressure readings. In other studies, only 45% of subjects with prescribed medication remained on treatment. Some of the patients who had started medication stopped going to the doctor of their own accord. Only 32% of those who remained on treatment had their blood pressure under control. Poor compliance, inadequate therapeutic regimen and high dropout rate explain the picture in Israel. A screening program for hypertension will fail if not accompanied by high-quality medical care and careful follow-up. When specially trained nurses joined doctors in the management of high blood pressure patients, a follow-up of 726 patients originally treated by a doctor alone and then by a doctor-nurse team for one year showed that the percentage of controlled hypertensives rose from 39.2 to 72.8% and the dropout rate fell from 30 to 0.65%. The adoption, on a national scale, of a doctor-nurse team approach for controlling hypertension is, therefore, strongly recommended.