Reasons for switching antihypertensive medication in general practice: a cross-sectional Czech nationwide survey

To improve blood pressure (BP) control of their patients, physicians either adjust or switch antihypertensive medication. Currently, there is only limited information available on why physicians decide to switch antihypertensive medications. A questionnaire-based survey was performed between November 2011 and March 2012 in the Czech Republic. General practitioners were asked to fill in questionnaires about their hypertensive patients whose antihypertensive medication they were planning to change. These questionnaires recorded data about patient demographic information, cardiovascular risk factors, BP values, and reasons for switching antihypertensive medication. Two hundred eight-six general practitioners surveyed a total of 4341 hypertensive patients. The mean age of the patients was 59.8 years, 68.9% of patients were overweight or obese. Uncontrolled office systolic and diastolic BP >140/90 mm Hg was present in 89.6% and 81.5% of patients, respectively, despite the fact that 49.4% of patients used a combination of 2 or more antihypertensive drugs. The most common reasons for switching medication were insufficient BP control (73.7%), followed by aiming for a better 24-hour effect (38.4%) and increased cardiovascular risk of the patients (37.7%). The major reason for switching antihypertensive treatment in general practice was insufficient BP control. Switching medication because of adverse drug effects is less frequent than reported a decade ago.