[General practitioners and prevention of ischemic heart disease]

The object of this investigation was to examine general practitioners' attitudes to prophylaxis, assessment of the significance of a series of risk factors for the development of heart disease and how much emphasis they employed in attempting to alter the risk factors. In addition, the general practitioners' own health habits were investigated and it was assessed whether there was any connection between health habits and assessment of risk factors and the priorities given to these efforts. The general practitioners' advice and current behaviour as regards risk factors were investigated. The investigation was carried out as a questionnaire investigation in the County of Aarhus where all doctors received a questionnaire. A total of 313 general practitioners replied to the questionnaire which corresponds to a percentage participation of 84. The investigation revealed that general practitioners are interested in prophylaxis but find it difficult. By and large, general practitioners regarded the usual risk factors as being of great significance for the development of ischaemic heart disease and considered that it was important to alter these. A connection was present between their own health habits, assessment of risk factors and the priority awarded to these. Practitioners who had had their own serum cholesterol measured, considered that hypercholesterolaemia was important and awarded efforts to correct this greater priority than practitioners who had not had their serum cholesterol measured. The general practitioners abilities in taking case histories and giving dietary advice in cases of hypercholesterolaemia showed that they had only few deficiencies, but that there was a great scatter in their intervention limits for hypercholesterolaemia.