Many general practice patients at high risk of suffering cardiovascular events are not receiving adequate medical treatment, according to the results of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr Ruth Webster, of The George Institute for International Health, and her co-authorsanalysed data from 2618 adult patients who presented to GPs over a five week period in
2006.
The data showed that 71 per cent of patients eligible under clinical guidelines for lipid screening were either not recognised as needing to be screened, were not prescribed appropriate medicines, or, once prescribed, were not attaining recommended targets.
"Fewer than half of those patients with established cardiovascular disease were being prescribed the recommended combination of antihypertensive statin and antiplatelet medications," Dr Webster said.
"Of those at high risk who had not yet experienced a cardiovascular event, about a third were taking no medications to modify their risk, and fewer than a quarter were prescribed the recommended combination of antihypertensive and statin medications"
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"Treatment generally appears to be based on levels of individual risk factors rather than on overall, or absolute, risk," Dr Webster said.
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"Patient outcomes could be improved by developing a single set of cardiovascular disease management guidelines."
Source-MJA
LIN