The factors contributing to whether or not hypertensive patients bring their home blood pressure record to the outpatient clinic.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the factors contributing to whether or not hypertensive patients brought their home blood pressure records to the outpatient clinic. METHOD: We studied 325 hypertensive patients [169 men (66.3+/-11.4 years old) and 156 women (68.1+/-11.2 years old)] who had received medical treatment for hypertension in our outpatient clinic from June to August 2006. RESULTS: Of the 325 patients studied, 206 (63.4%, 101 men, 105 women) brought their home blood pressure records to our outpatient clinic. Logistic analysis showed age [odds ratio (OR) =0.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93-0.98; p=0.0002], systolic blood pressure in outpatient clinic (OR=1.02; 95% CI: 1.00-1.04; p=0.0488) and the number of medicines prescribed (OR=1.94; 95% CI: 1.37-2.75; p=0.0002) were independent factors contributing to whether or not hypertensive patients bring along their home blood pressure records to the outpatient clinic. CONCLUSION: The contributing factors determining whether the patients bring their home blood pressure records to the outpatient clinic were: younger age, higher systolic blood pressure in the outpatient clinic, and a higher number of antihypertensive drugs. In conclusion, our results suggest that physicians should further motivate older patients, with well-controlled blood pressure in the outpatient clinic, to bring their home blood pressure records to the outpatient clinic.