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Table 1 Terms and definitions

From: The concept and definition of therapeutic inertia in hypertension in primary care: a qualitative systematic review

Term

First occurrence

Definition

Clinical inertia

Phillips et al.. Ann Intern Med 2001,135:825–834.

Health care providers often do not initiate or intensify therapy appropriately during visits of patients with these problems [hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes]. We define such behavior as clinical inertia—recognition of the problem, but failure to act.

Therapeutic inertia

Okonufa et al.. Hypertension 2006,3:345–351.

Therapeutic inertia (TI), that is, failure of providers to begin new medications or increase dosages of existing medications when an abnormal clinical parameter is recorded.

Patient's inertia

Vinyoles. Hipertension 2007,24:91–92.

Three inertias are barriers to change: physician's inertia, patient's inertia, and health authorities inertia.

(Translated from Spanish)

Health authorities inertia

Vinyoles. Hipertension 2007,24:91–92.

Three inertias are barriers to change: physician's inertia, patient's inertia, and health authorities inertia.

(Translated from Spanish)

Physician inertia

Vinyoles. Hipertension 2007,24:91–92.

Three inertias are barriers to change: physician's inertia, patient's inertia, and health authorities inertia.

(Translated from Spanish)

Moser et al.. J Clin Hypertens 2009,11:1–4.

Physician inertia is defined as the failure to initiate therapy or to intensify or change therapy in patients with BP values >140 ⁄90 mmHg, or >130⁄80 mm Hg in hypertensive patients with diabetes, renal, or coronary heart disease.

Clinical Myopia

Reach. Diabetes Metab 2008,34:382–385.

We suggest that a failure to give preference to the long-term benefits of treatment intensification may represent a common mechanism underlying both patient non-adherence and physician clinical inertia. We dub such a failure as “clinical myopia”.

Therapeutic momentum

Faria et al.. J Am Soc Hypertens 2009,3:267–276.

Therapeutic inertia, therapeutic momentum, and physician inertia are all terms synonymous with clinical inertia

Rodrigo et al.. Int J Clin Pract 2013,67:97–98.

The reluctance to step down or withdraw therapy when further prescription is not needed or not supported by evidence. We have termed it ‘therapeutic momentum’.

Diagnostic inertia

Gil-Guillén et al.. Blood Press 2010,19:3–10.

Diagnostic inertia was defined as a failure to consider the diagnosis of HTN in a subject in the absence of diagnosis of HTN and elevated BP.