Improving cardiovascular prevention through patient awareness

SummaryObjectivePatients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) or coronary artery disease (CAD) must have their risk factors rigorously controlled, but there is a gap between practice and ideal. This study aimed to demonstrate how cardiovascular prevention is performed for these patients in a Brazilian university hospital, and to identify predictors of good practice.Methods192 patients with CAD or PAD were included in this transversal study. Six prevention goals were analyzed: 1) systolic blood pressure < 140mmHg; 2) diastolic blood pressure < 90mmHg; 3) LDL < 100mg/dL; 4) HDL > 40mg/dL for men/ > 50mg/dL for women; 5) not smoking; 6) regular practice of aerobic exercise.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 65.7 years, and 60% were men. The percentage of patients that achieved goals 1 to 6 was 57.3%, 67.2%, 40.1%, 27.6%, 88.5%, and 25%, respectively. The average number of goals achieved by patients was 3.06±1.31. When asked about the reason for being treated, 182(94.8%) patients claimed to know about their disease, but when the diagnosis reported by the patients with the physician's diagnosis were compared, it was discordant in 12% of cases. The average number of goals achieved by patients was 2.67 and 3.46 for the PAD and the CAD group, respectively. The independent predictors of a higher number of goals/patient were: male gender (p=0.011), hospitalization (p