Visit frequency for controlled essential hypertension: general practitioners' opinions.

A survey of 50 randomly selected South Glamorgan general practitioners was undertaken to determine how often they would treat and see patients with uncomplicated controlled essential hypertension. The decision to treat for high blood pressure depended on the level of diastolic pressure, patient age and sex, and interactions between diastolic pressure and age and diastolic pressure and sex. The range of responses for visit frequently was every two weeks to once yearly. On average, patients would be seen every 14.8 weeks (standard deviation, 9.2 weeks). The follow-up interval was significantly affected by level of pretreatment diastolic pressure (16 weeks for pressures 95 to 100 mmHg; 13.6 weeks for pressures greater than 105 mmHg), the patient's age (13.9 weeks for those 40 to 49 years old; 15.6 weeks for those 60 to 65 years old), and the decision to treat for high blood pressure (13.4 weeks for those treated; 17.9 weeks for those not treated). If the variability of physician opinion observed in this study is reflected in practice patterns, then it is important to know whether these variations affect outcome. Follow-up intervals can be related to physician, patient, illness characteristics, and outcomes. Visit frequency is a useful variable for studying the process of care.