COMPUTER-SUPPORTED DECISION-MAKING IN THERAPY OF ARTERIAL-HYPERTENSION

Therapy of hypertension is still more or less empirical. Several class es of antihypertensive medications are known, the effect of which is b ased on different mechanisms. The efficacy of the treatment is not alw ays a reliable indication of the appropriate selection as a good thera peutical response can sometimes be achieved at the expense of humoral simulation. This can lead to harmful increased synthesis of trophic ho rmones. The program for PC called HYPERTENZE supports decision making in therapy of arterial hypertension. It gives a sequence of decisions based on clinical experience using a series of parameters. The program is using the Microsoft Access language of the Access database system and due to the Access Developers Toolkit it does not require Access to be installed on The user's computer. The program HYPERTENZE offers th e user essential information and explanation of the decisions in a gra ded form. The price list of equivalent medications can be updated by t he user himself. It seems that this program might be very useful for C zech general practitioners. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.