OBJECTIVETo observe the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rate of hypertension and to evaluate the 10-year absolute risk of coronary heart disease(CHD) and ischemic cardiovascular disease(ICVD) in Chinese cardiovascular physicians.

METHODSA total of 4032 cardiovascular physicians (28 to 79 years old) from 386 hospitals in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were randomly selected and received an epidemiologic survey of prevalence, awareness, and control of hypertension and evaluations of CHD and ICVD risk.

RESULTSThe prevalence of hypertension in Chinese cardiovascular physicians was 13.1%. The awareness rate of hypertension in Chinese cardiovascular physicians was 81.7%. Hypertension treatment rate was 69.6% and blood pressure control rate was 44.6%. The prevalence of hypertension was higher in male physicians than in female physicians before the age of 55 years old. Ten-year absolute risk of CHD and ICVD was 0.08 and 0.03 in hypertensive physicians compared to 0.03 and 0.01 in non-hypertensive physicians.

CONCLUSIONSThe results show suboptimal awareness, treatment and control rate in Chinese cardiovascular physicians for their own hypertension status.Physicians suffering from hypertension face higher risk for cardiovascular disease. It is therefore necessary to improve the self-monitoring of blood pressure in Chinese cardiovascular physicians.