Do clinicians tell patients they have prehypertension?

Background: the clinical utility of the prehypertension label is questionable. we sought to estimate how often patients with prehypertension are being told about it by their primary care clinicians. methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study of adult patients visiting practices within the north carolina family medicine research network in summer 2008. non-hypertensive patients were asked whether a doctor or other health care provider had ever told them they had prehypertension; a sub-sample of patients with measured blood pressure (bp) in the prehypertension range was asked the same question. results: of 1008 non-hypertensive patients,1.9% indicated being told they had prehypertension. among a subsample of 102 patients with measured bp in the prehypertension range,2.0% indicated being told they had prehypertension. conclusion: few patients who probably have prehypertension are being told about it by clinicians.