Cardiovascular disease screening in general practice: General practitioner recording of common risk factors

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• General Practice
• Public Health

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention is a cornerstone of general practice (GP) care.
• Accurate assessment and screening of individual CVD risk factors are essential for effective prevention strategies.
• Australian guidelines recommend specific risk factors for managing absolute cardiovascular disease risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the current recording of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in general practice (GP) data.
• To assess adherence to Australian guidelines for the management of absolute cardiovascular disease risk.
• To identify patient characteristics associated with the recording of CVD risk factors.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of routine GP data from 149,306 patients aged 45+ in eastern Melbourne (July 2011–September 2014).
• Data sourced from the Melbourne East Monash General Practice Database.
• Logistic regression with generalised estimating equations used to determine associations between patient characteristics and risk factor recording.

Main Results:

• 92.4% of patients had at least one CVD risk factor recorded.
• Only 41.7% had key Framingham risk factors (lipids, blood pressure, smoking status) documented.
• A mere 1.3% had all recommended risk factors recorded.
• Females were less likely (OR: 0.72) and patients with diabetes more likely (OR: 12.26) to have risk factors recorded.

Conclusions:

• Current recording of essential cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in general practice (GP) is suboptimal.
• There is a need for improved strategies to enhance the documentation of CVD risk factors by GPs.
• Better recording of risk factors will support the identification of high-risk individuals and strengthen preventive care efforts.