Australia’s doctors may be placing themselves at increased risk of stroke and heart attack because they are too busy caring for patients and neglect to monitor their own blood pressure, cardiologists say.
The warning follows an industry-sponsored survey of 301 GPs across Australia revealing 14% were self-monitoring their BP less than once per year.
Funded by Servier, the online poll conducted in June also found three quarters reported moderate-to-high levels of workplace stress, while nearly half were overweight.
In addition, 26% of respondents delivered a BP reading above 130/85, with many also recording a family history of CVD or diabetes.
Yet despite these figures, only 16% were checking their own BP twice a year as recommended, the company said.
While the data was limited to GPs, it was likely to be a similar story in other specialties including cardiology, said interventional cardiologist Dr Om Narayan from Monash Heart.
“Intuitively, from my own interactions with colleagues and other physicians, the impression is that many struggle to find the time to schedule in GP visits and finding a GP that can provide routine care can be exceedingly challenging (as cardiologists often work a seven day week),” he said.
“This issue is even more acute amongst physicians in rural or regional practice.”
Compounding this were cultural factors such as “invulnerability bias”, whereby specialists may feel they are somehow immune from the conditions they see in their patients, Dr Narayan said.