PHYSICIANS AND SCIENTIFIC-INFORMATION - Q UESTIONS ON HYPERTENSION AND DIURETICS

In order to analyse the quality of scientific communication in the fie ld of hypertension, we have conducted a survey among French physicians . The topics of the questions were partly related to hypertension and partly to diuretics; 3600 questions forms have been mailed : 610 answe rs were returned (17%). The results show that most of physicians are u nsufficiently informed about primary prevention therapeutical trials a nd recommendations. Moreover, whereas all physicians questionned (97%) consider that diuretics constitute a current therapeutic approach, th is class remains largely unknown concerning its mechanisms, efficacy a nd tolerance dose relationships. As 80% of general practitioners havin g participated to this survey wish to be more informed on recent data in this field, these results emphasize the necessity of adapting infor mation to the need of practitioners, raise questions concerning the in formation supports, the role of scientific committees in the medical i nformation and the necessity to complete clinical research by studies which results may be rapidly applicable in clinical practice.