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Do physicians' beliefs about coronary risk factors account for poor screening and treatment rates?

D G Meyers1, B T Steinle

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, USA.

Angiology
|August 1, 1996
PubMed

Insights

Physicians often fail to screen for and treat coronary artery disease risk factors. Lack of belief in risk factor importance does not explain this gap in care for cardiovascular patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Preventive Medicine
  • Medical Auditing

Background:

  • Low rates of coronary risk factor screening and treatment are common among cardiologists.
  • Physician belief in the importance of risk factors is a potential explanation for this deficit.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between cardiologists' beliefs about risk factor importance and their screening/treatment practices.
  • To determine the extent of coronary risk factor screening and treatment in patients with coronary artery disease.

Main Methods:

  • Audit of 160 randomly selected medical records of patients with coronary artery disease.
  • Survey of attending physicians to rank the importance of individual risk factors.

Main Results:

  • Screening and treatment rates for coronary risk factors were highly variable and generally below expected levels.
  • No correlation was found between screening rates, treatment rates, and physician-rated importance of risk factors.

Conclusions:

  • Physician belief in the importance of risk factors does not explain the observed low rates of screening and treatment.
  • Further research is needed to understand the barriers to effective coronary risk factor management in clinical practice.

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