Scoping and bibliometric analysis of promoters of therapeutic inertia in hypertension.

OBJECTIVES

Therapeutic/clinical inertia is thought to be responsible for up to 80% of cardiovascular events. This study was conducted as a comprehensive scoping and bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed scholarly documents reporting on factors associated with therapeutic/clinical inertia in caring for patients with hypertension. Additionally, this study identified the factors associated with therapeutic/clinical inertia in hypertension.

STUDY DESIGN

This study was a scoping and bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

The databases MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, CINAHL/EBSCO, Cochrane, and Scopus were searched from inception to September 23, 2020, using relevant keywords. Documents reporting on factors associated with therapeutic/clinical inertia in caring for patients with hypertension were selected based on inclusion criteria. Bibliometric indicators and VOSviewer were used to analyze and map citation and keyword networks.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 71 documents. Of those, 43 (60.6%) were original articles, 54 (76.1%) were published after 2010, and 41 (57.7%) originated from the United States. Mapping cooccurrence of terms identified 112 hot topics that were grouped into 4 clusters. A total of 41 factors associated with therapeutic/clinical inertia were identified from the documents selected. Of those, 23 (56.1%) were related to the physician, 12 (29.3%) were related to the patient, and 6 (14.6%) were related to the health care system.

CONCLUSIONS

This scoping and bibliometric study provides insights into the width and depth of scholarly peer-reviewed documents on factors associated with therapeutic/clinical inertia in caring for patients with hypertension. Findings of this study could be helpful in shaping future directions of research into therapeutic/clinical inertia in hypertension.