[Therapeutic education in primary cardiovascular prevention: 4 years sustained interest]

Our patient therapeutic education program yields improvements in health after one year. But what can we see after 4 years, when the patient alone is responsible for following the program?

Two hundred and ninety-one patients participated in the first part of our study and were followed during one year. Four years into the ongoing study, we reviewed the progress of the first 200 patients. We compared the already published Risk Factors and Eating Habits scores between the beginning of the study (T0), one year later (T1) and after 4 years (T4).

The Risk Factor score at T0 is 9.5±7.8, moving to 7±7.5 at T1, and then to 6.8±7.8 at T4 (P<0.001 between T0 and T1 and T0 and T4). Endurance physical activities saw the greatest improvement: 0.79±5 at T0, -1.07±4.5 at T1 and -1.61±4.5 at T4 (P<0.001 between T0 and T1 and T0 and T4). The Eating Habits score went from -18.2±7.3 to -22.2±6.4 and then to -23.5±6.4 (P<0.001 between T0 and T1 and T0 and T4). The best results were obtained through increased consumption of whole grains, green vegetables and fish.

The positive results of the progress of risk factors and eating habits, noted after one year, are even greater four years after the end of the therapeutic education program.