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Physicians' perception, knowledge and awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and adherence to prevention
Zeljko Reiner1, Zdenko Sonicki, Eugenia Tedeschi-Reiner
1Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Center Zagreb, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Kispatićeva 12, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. zreiner@kbc-zagreb.hr
Insights
Physician knowledge of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and guidelines is inconsistent, impacting prevention. Barriers include lack of time, finances, and patient awareness, hindering effective CVD risk management.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Public Health
- Medical Education
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) represent a leading cause of global premature mortality.
- Physician adherence to CVD prevention guidelines is crucial for public health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess physicians' knowledge of CVD risk factors.
- To evaluate physicians' perceptions of CVD prevention guideline implementation.
- To identify barriers to effective CVD prevention in clinical practice.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews.
- 1382 physicians (GPs, internists, cardiologists) were randomly selected across Croatia.
Main Results:
- While most physicians find guidelines useful, only 56.9% actively use them; 40.2% prefer Joint European guidelines.
- Knowledge gaps exist regarding lipid goals (LDL 53.3%, HDL 56.2% awareness).
- Hypertension is seen as key by GPs, while cardiologists prioritize diabetes; lack of finances is a major barrier, yet patient education is deemed most improvable.
Conclusions:
- Physician support for guidelines contrasts with suboptimal usage and knowledge, indicating a need for improved education.
- Barriers like time, finances, and perceived patient unawareness contribute to suboptimal CVD risk factor management.
- Enhancing physician understanding and application of CVD prevention strategies is essential to reduce premature mortality.
Background:
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the major cause of premature death in the world. This study was designed to examine the physicians' knowledge and perception of CVD risk factors and perceived implementation of CVD prevention guidelines as well as barriers to their implementation.
Methods:
A questionnaire survey by face-to-face interviews was performed among 1382 randomly selected physicians (general practitioners/family medicine specialists, internists and cardiologists) from different regions of Croatia.
Results:
Most physicians believe that guidelines are useful but only 56.9% are really using some guidelines. 40.2% favour Joint European guidelines. More primary care physicians use their own personal experience in prevention while internists and cardiologists tend more to use the guidelines. 80.6% believe that they treat their patients with dyslipidemia well but only 53.3% knew the LDL-cholesterol goal value for high-risk patients and only 56.2% knew which HDL-cholesterol level is the marker of increased risk. Hypertension was perceived as the most important risk factor, particularly by primary care physicians, while cardiologists tend to favour diabetes. Although most physicians considered the lack of financial resources as the main barrier in CVD prevention, at the same time most of them believe that it could primarily be improved by better patient education.
Conclusions:
Although most physicians support the guidelines use, only half of them use them and in average their knowledge of guidelines is not satisfactory. This is, together with the lack of time and finances and perceived lack of patients' awareness, probably one of the main causes why they do not manage risk factors better.
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