[Management of dyslipidemias diagnosed in general practice in France--The PRAGMA Study]

Several studies have reported the penetration and impact of national and international recommendations on the management of dyslipidaemia, a major cardiovascular risk factor. Most of them were carried out on patients participating in clinical trials or on in-hospital cases. The PRAGMA study was developed in order to evaluate management of this condition in general practice, at the heart of the health care system. From September to December 1998, 1,717 general practitioners were chosen randomly and included 6,623 patients considered to have a lipid disorder. In this sample, the prevalence of the main risk factors was as follows: hypertension: 39.6%, diabetes: 11.6%, obesity: 19.6%, past or present smokers: 33.8%. The main lines of management consisted in prescribing lipid lowering drugs (96.6%) with dietary recommendations (95.8%) and a fall lipid profile (59.9%). The main factors spontaneously cited by the general practitioners as being decisional were: the total cholesterol level (47.8%), diet (40.8%), body weight (29.4%) and drug therapy (19.2%). The cardiovascular risk factors were rarely taken into account in their totality. These results suggest that the management of dyslipidaemia patients by general practitioners is far from being optimal. Efforts should be made to change attitudes to take into consideration the global cardiovascular risk factors of patients with lipid disorders.