Physicians' knowledge, awareness and instructions of home blood pressure monitoring: Asia HBPM survey in Taiwan

Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) has been proven to be reliable for both diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. Experts from 11 Asian countries collaborated to design a questionnaire aimed at healthcare workers, seeking to understand the current status of HBPM. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among healthcare professionals from Taiwan between November 2019 and June 2021. A total of 779 physicians in Taiwan participated in the survey. Nearly all physicians (97.7%) reported recommending HBPM to their patients. There was a 14.6% difference between the HBPM device ownership rate (60.2%) and the proportion of patients who measured their home blood pressures (45.6%). Among physicians who recommended HBPM, only 15.5% cited HBPM diagnostic threshold values consistent with the guidelines. Among all respondents, 85.9% and 48.9% viewed HBPM as highly recognized by physicians and patients, respectively. Lack of guidelines for HBPM and concern to reliability and accuracy of the HBPM devices were identified as key barriers to HBPM recognition. This study indicates that there is still room for improvement among healthcare providers in their understanding and implementation of HBPM in Taiwan.