THE APPROACH OF MOROCCAN CARDIOLOGISTS TO HYPERTENSION

The authors conducted a survey among 300 cardiologists in order to eva luate their knowledge of HT. Most of the 200 cardiologists answering t he survey considered that systolic HT was defined by a systolic blood pressure greater than 160 mmHg (75%). Only 14 cardiologists (7%), defi ned systolic HT as a blood pressure greater than 140 mmHg. 121 cardiol ogists (60.5%) defined diastolic HT as a pressure greater than 95 mmHg . 2/3 of cardiologists were not familiar with the conclusions of the J NCV for the detection, evaluation and treatment of HT. All cardiologis ts agreed that treatment of HT should start with single-agent therapy. In the case of insufficient control, 11% doubled the dose, 5% changed the drug in the same class, 53% changed therapeutic category and 30% prescribed two-agent therapy. Once BP was stabilized, one half of card iologists reviewed their patients once every 3 months, and 22.5% revie wed their patients once every six months. These results demonstrate th at cardiologists do not correctly follow the rules of management of HT recently defined by the various working parties. The authors propose a number of points to remedy some of the deficiencies revealed by this survey.