Summary

Objective. To assess the attitude of primary care physicians in Russia to antihypertensive therapy administration and their readiness to achieve goal blood pressure, as well as causes of physicians’ inertia. Design and methods. The survey was performed in St Petersburg, Leningrad region (North-West region) and Irkutsk. The questionnaire was filled by 790 primary doctors (368 from St Petersburg, 57 in Leningrad region and 365 in Irkutsk). Results. More than half of Russian physicians were found to be predisposed to clinical inertia and the structure of its reasons is generally the same as in USA and Western Europe. The most frequent causes are contradictions between the good knowledge of the guidelines and subjective barriers to follow them in practice, especially in the elderly patients, overestimation of treatment success. Economical reasons are also relevant while lack of knowledge is less important.

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