Clinical Inertia in Poorly Controlled Elderly Hypertensive Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish Physicians to Ascertain Reasons for Not Intensifying Treatment

Clinical inertia, the failure of physicians to initiate or intensify therapy when indicated, is a major problem in the management of hypertension and may be more prevalent in elderly patients. Overcoming clinical inertia requires understanding its causes and evaluating certain factors, particularly those related to physicians.The objective of our study was to determine the rate of clinical inertia and the physician-reported reasons for it.An observational, cross-sectional, multi-center study was carried out in a primary care setting. We included 512 physicians, with a consecutive sampling of 1,499 hypertensive patients with clinical inertia.Clinical inertia was defined when physicians did n…