Computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) in primary care

We aimed to study the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among 11,000 inhabitants in Northern Helsinki, and to identify high-risk individuals in the area and direct them to the local primary-health-care-centred CVD-risk-factor prevention programme.

We conducted a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI), a descriptive survey and primary care unit searching for CVD risk factors within the population under its responsibility. Six hundred and sixty-seven individuals aged 18-65 years out of 1000 randomly chosen inhabitants were interviewed using CATI. We measured the prevalence of self-reported CVD risk factors: smoking, blood pressure, last measured total serum cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, diabetes, physical exercise habits, positive family history of CVD/diabetes and personal history of CVD.

Sixty-seven per cent of the sample was interviewed. Nineteen per cent did not have a telephone and 3% refused to be interviewed. Eleven per cent did not respond. Persons with high cardiovascular risk scores were observed mainly in the oldest age group. In the total sample, 23% of women and 28% of men were estimated to be at high risk of coronary artery disease. Gender differences were seen only in one age-group: 45-54-year-old men reporting higher risk-factor scores. The results were analysed using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS).

The CATI-method is a useful tool in screening of high-CVD-risk patients and in guiding them to local CVD primary prevention programmes.