therapeutic inertia
The failure to initiate or intensify therapy when treatment goals are not achieved, representing a barrier to optimal cardiovascular prevention.
Full Definition
Therapeutic inertia refers to the lack of treatment initiation or intensification by healthcare providers when patients fail to reach evidence-based therapeutic goals, despite clear indications for intervention. In cardiovascular prevention, this commonly manifests as failure to prescribe statins for high-risk patients, inadequate blood pressure management, or reluctance to optimize lipid-lowering therapy. Therapeutic inertia represents a significant quality gap that contributes to preventable cardiovascular events and requires systematic approaches to overcome.
Usage
Usage note: Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier; focus on provider behavior rather than patient factors when using this term.
In Context
- "Quality improvement initiatives were implemented to reduce therapeutic inertia in statin prescribing for high-risk patients." — Quality improvement report
- "Therapeutic inertia contributed to suboptimal LDL cholesterol control despite multiple clinical encounters." — Case review discussion