Michel Jeanjean | PubMed Health

PubMed2004

Obstacles to cardiovascular prevention in general practice.

OBJECTIVE: In spite of a wide diffusion of the European guidelines for prevention of cardiovascular (CV) diseases, failures in both primary and secondary CV prevention are currently acknowledged. We wanted to uncover obstacles to CV prevention related to the general practitioner's (GP) knowledge and attitudes. METHODS AND RESULTS: A postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of GPs from two Belgian provinces. 282 GPs (32%) answered the questionnaire. The proportion of adequate answers was calculated for each item. The main obstacles related to three domains. Regarding awareness of CV burden, 83% of the GPs underestimated the lethality of myocardial infarction and 41% underestimated the prevalence of high CV risk in the adult population. Regarding CV risk assessment, 80% thought that total cholesterol (TC) adequately reflected the individual CV risk; only 55% systematically registered the patient's CV risk factors in the medical record. A tool for global CV risk assessment was never used by 53% of the GPs. Regarding CV therapeutic attitudes, 66% systematically prescribed a lipid-lowering drug to patients with high TC while 62% did not take into account the evidence-based therapeutic targets in type 2 diabetic patients. CONCLUSIONS: This survey showed that these GPs underestimated the CV burden, lacked a systematic approach to global risk assessment and used to focus on cholesterol treatment rather than on global CV risk management.

Awareness↗

PubMed2004

Cardiovascular prevention in general practice: development and validation of an algorithm.

OBJECTIVE: General practice visits are a unique opportunity to identify and treat individuals with a high cardiovascular (CV) risk. However, a case-finding strategy suited to the daily general practice is not provided in the CV prevention guidelines. We wanted to create, validate and test an algorithm for global CV risk assessment and management. METHODS: The algorithm was 1) developed based on evidence from epidemiological studies and clinical trials, 2) validated in a population-based cohort and 3) tested by randomly selected general practitioners (GPs) who rated its usefulness and applicability. RESULTS: 1) Screening for seven clinical risk factors (RF) allowed a quick classification of patients in four CV risk typologies: obvious high risk (previous CV event and/or type 2 diabetes) in 17%, obvious low risk (no RF) in 14%, smoking-related risk (single RF) in 6%, or undetermined risk (any other RF) to further evaluate in 63% patients. Inter-physician reproducibility for risk prediction was excellent. Overall, predicted risk was high, moderate and low in 25, 17 and 58% of the patients, respectively. 2) These risk predictions were validated in a cohort of 962 men followed over 10 years. 3) Most GPs reported that the algorithm was applicable and useful, while half of them started using it frequently in their daily practice. CONCLUSION: This algorithm is a new, pragmatic and evidence-based strategy for systematic and global CV risk management. It was validated at the population level, and shown to be applicable and useful in the daily general practice.

Adult↗