Blood pressure measurement status of outpatients at a university hospital

Aim: Hypertension is an important health problem that affects the entire population and causes mortality and morbidity. Although there are screening recommendations in different diagnosis and treatment guidelines, there are studies showing that blood pressure measurement is skipped during examination in practice. This study aimed to evaluate the blood pressure measurement status in adults applying to different outpatient clinics in our hospital. Method: In our cross-sectional-analytical study, the data of patients who applied to the Karadeniz Technical University Farabi Hospital polyclinics for any reason between 01.01.2023 and 01.01.2024 were scanned retrospectively from the hospital information system. Patients who were over 18 years of age with their anamnesis taken and physical examination information completed were included in the study. The sample was calculated as 215 from each of the 24 different polyclinics. Results: The median age of the 5160 participants was 48 (IQR: 32-62) years. 58.4% (n=3015) of the participants were women. 13.8% of the participants had their blood pressure measured during their outpatient clinic examination. The branch with the highest rate of blood pressure measurement was nephrology. In some outpatient clinics, none of the patients had their blood pressure measured. 49.7% (n=354) of the individuals whose blood pressure was measured already had hypertension diagnosis. When blood pressure staging was done according to the blood pressure measurement results, 46.1% (n=328) had increased blood pressure. 77.3% of individuals whose blood pressure was measured in the family practise outpatient clinic did not have a predetermined hypertension diagnosis. Conclusion: The results reveal that the rate of blood pressure measurement, which is a part of the physical examination in outpatient clinics, is much lower than it should be. In order to ensure early diagnosis and blood pressure control of a chronic disease such as hypertension, which is common in society and can have serious complications, every polyclinic visit of the patients should be considered as an opportunity to measure blood pressure. Keywords: Blood pressure, Hypertension, Blood pressure determination, Screening, Family practise