Undetected hypertension is an obstacle to effective blood pressure control in the community. A study was done to assess the justification of screening in the outpatient department. Only 13% of all visits to the outpatient department resulted in an attempt to detect hypertension. The common reasons leading to blood pressure measurement were headache and dizziness. Current practice of hypertension detection appeared inadequate and irrational. Nine per cent of all visits to the outpatient department were already accounted for by hypertensives. A screening survey found that 30% of all non-hypertensive patients attending outpatient department aged 30 years or more had blood pressure greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg. The drop out rate among these newly diagnosed hypertensives was 100%. Existing resources are already inadequate and existing hypertension care has also been shown to be inadequate. Screening can only be expected to considerably increase hypertensive patient load without however any assurance that effective long term care can be delivered. Labelling people as hypertensives in this manner may be harmful. The question of screening cannot be considered individually, separate from the entire problem of hypertension control. Detection must be linked to treatment in a programme designed to promote compliance and capable of delivering adequate care before it can be justified.
Sixty hypertensives admitted into medical wards were interviewed in depth to determine reasons for their previous drop out of treatment. Eighty five percent of the patients were lacking in motivation. This was related to patients' lack of understanding concerning hypertension and its treatment, erroneous beliefs concerning hypertension held by patients and patients' perceived barrier to treatment. The evidence for these reasons were as follows: 95% of the patients were unaware that hypertension is a long term condition requiring life-long treatment, 60% were unable to state the likely consequences of uncontrolled hypertension, 78% equated relief of symptoms like headache, dizziness with control of hypertension, 52% believed long term consumption of 'western' medication was harmful, 12% believed they had been cured by traditional (bomoh or sinseh) treatment, 72% complained of long waiting time required to obtain care. Economic reasons however were unimportant. Patient education and more convenient clinic locations are necessary but insufficient to ensure compliance. They are particular elements, among others, of a 'good' doctor-patient relationship, which fundamentally is the critical determinant of compliance.
Consecutive hypertensives admitted with cardiovascular complications were studied. One hundred and eight complicated hypertensives (10%) out of 1,066 medical admissions were seen in the three month study. Thirty three per cent had cerebrovascular disease, 30% ischaemic heart disease, 2% had malignant hypertension and 85% had hypertensive heart disease. All patients had uncontrolled hypertension at admission (mean blood pressure 184/115 mmHg). Twenty-four patients (22%) were newly diagnosed; of the rest of previously diagnosed hypertensives (78%), 3% had never been on treatment and 56% had dropped out of treatment, which explained their ineffective blood pressure control. However, 18% of patients had apparently been on regular follow up and treatment, and yet their blood pressure control was poor. Many patients had evidence of renal disease. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was also high; 56% had hypercholesterolaemia; 46% had hypertriglyceridaemia; 44% smoked, 38% were overweight or obese, and 18% were diabetic. This indicates that hypertension is best regarded as an ingredient of a cardiovascular risk profile and its management requires multifactorial correction of all risk factors identified.
Stroke remains a major health burden worldwide. The incidence and prevalence rates of stroke are decreasing in developed countries, an opposite trend is taking place in the Asia Pacific, where an increasing number of patients are being diagnosed with acute stroke. The results of the present study on acute stroke in multi-ethnic Malaysia will significantly contribute to the global stroke epidemiological data. We aimed to present epidemiological data of stroke including incidence and prevalence rates as well as associated risk factors from a prospective nationwide hospital-based registry from 2010 to 2014.
Gender as an independent predictor in stroke has been well documented. However, data on gender differences among first-ever ischemic stroke in developing country are limited. We aim to describe gender effects on clinical characteristics, thrombolysis treatment received, and outcomes of patients with first-ever ischemic stroke.
A study was undertaken to determine the extent of morbidity associated with asthma and to audit the management of asthma in two out-patient clinics of two district hospitals. Patients were recruited for the study during a 3-month period from December 1990 to February 1991. Seventy asthmatic patients were studied. Eighty-six percent of the patients had their sleep disturbed by asthma, 77% took daily medication regularly, 63% felt that their activities were restricted by asthma, 60% had at least one acute exacerbation in the preceding six months. Of those who had their peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measured, 40% had a PEFR below 50% predicted, and only 11% had normal PEFR (greater than 80% predicted). The morbidity of asthma was thus considerable. On the other hand, the drug treatment of these asthmatics was grossly inadequate. They were prescribed on average 2.1 item of drugs, which for most patients comprised an oral beta agonist and a theophylline. Only 43% of the patients received inhaler therapy, but no patients were given steroids, inhaled or oral. The drug treatment was unrelated to the severity of patients' asthma. Further, objective measurement of severity was under-used in the assessment of asthma, only 8.5% of patients ever had their PEFR recorded. This study has found that asthma is poorly managed in out-patient clinics. We need to improve the training of doctors in the optimal management of asthma.
Study site: General outpatient clinics, district hospitals, Pahang, Malaysia
Poor compliance with drug treatment is a barrier to effective management of hypertension. Drug compliance behaviour of 168 patients were studied, their drug compliance was measured by the pill-counting method. The prevalence of non-compliance with medication was 26%. Thirteen variables were examined for their association with compliance; these were age, sex, duration of hypertension since diagnosis, adequacy of blood pressure control, complexity of drug regimen and side-effect of drug, history of previous admission for hypertension related reason, patient's knowledge of hypertensive complications, patient's belief that drug was 'panas' or 'san', previous use of traditional treatment for hypertension, patient's fatalistic attitude, their social support and satisfaction with the health services. None of these variables were significantly related to compliance (p greater than 0.05) except adequacy of blood pressure control. The performance of patient self-report was compared with pill-count as a measure of drug compliance; it was poorly predictive of non-compliance (sensitivity = 71%, specificity = 50%). An inverse relationship was found between non-compliance with medication and patient subsequent drop-out rate. Patients who were compliant were more likely to remain on treatment and vice versa. As a measure of drug compliance, detection of drop-out compared well with pill-count (sensitivity 97%, specificity 66%, positive predictive value 89%, negative predictive value 88%).
Study site: outpatient clinic, Hospital Mentakab, Pahang, Malaysia