Table 2.

Reasons given by general practitioner for not increasing blood pressure treatment after patient referred by practice nurse with blood pressure above target

Reason	Intensive target (n=109)	Standard target (n=57)
Other blood pressure readings (eg, home readings) taken into account	17	20
Patient did not want treatment intensified	22	13
Decision taken to re-measure blood pressure at future time	19	12
Symptoms attributed to blood pressure treatment	24	5
Blood pressure only just above target	14	2
Patient had not been taking pills	9	5
Blood pressure reading attributed to anxiety of patient	3	8
Changes to drug treatment already made	4	2
Postural hypotension	3	2
Awaiting specialist advice/test results	5	–
Intercurrent illness	3	–
Patient too old for further increases in treatment	1	2
Change in lifestyle advocated rather than change in drugs	–	1

Reason was given for 164/166 non-intensification decisions. Numbers add up to more than 164, as in some cases two reasons were given.