Family doctors don’t always feel that they can achieve healthy cholesterol levels in their patients even though they are aware of the dangers of cardiovascular disease, according to an international survey of practitioners published in the July issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham, UK, and Lund University, Sweden, surveyed 750 doctors from 10 countries – Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Mexico, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea and the UK - during their From the Heart study.
Doctors told them that only 47% of their patients reached their cholesterol goals, but 61% of them felt this was an acceptable statistic.
“Although doctors appear to appreciate the risks associated with cardiovascular disease – which they identified as a greater cause of death than cancer - the importance of lowering cholesterol does not appear to be widely endorsed” says co-author Professor Richard Hobbs from the University of Birmingham.
“Our study also highlighted discrepancies between what family doctors do when a patient has high cholesterol and what they are advised to do by national guidelines.”
Key findings included:
“Six out of ten doctors (61%) said they didn’t feel frustrated when they were unable to lower cholesterol in patients with cardiovascular disease, despite the fact that research has shown that lowering cholesterol significantly reduces ill health and death due to cardiovascular disease” concludes co-author Professor Leif Erhardt from Lund University, Sweden.
“Despite the existence of well-defined guidelines and the proven benefits of lowering cholesterol levels, many patients with cardiovascular disease are being under treated and a large proportion fail to achieve cholesterol lowering goals.”
The survey also revealed valuable information on what patients tell doctors when it comes to cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.
Doctors reported that patients feared cancer more than cardiovascular disease and that they were much more likely to see smoking and obesity as high risk factors for cardiovascular disease than high cholesterol.
Country by country statistics
Satisfaction:
Doctors’ preferred approach:
Guidelines:
Figures have been rounded up or down as appropriate.
International Journal of Clinical Practice