British Study - The future is in prevention. In addition look at the comment on having a patient on drug therapy. I still believe an alliance with a Staten drug manufacture is a dynamite way to drive sales and mangaged care usage. Think global - maybe England will order more machines!!
Prevention clinics help heart patients
LONDON (Reuters) -- Special clinics set up to promote heart-healthy habits improve the health of patients with heart
disease, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.
In comparison, patients who remain under the care of a general practitioner and are not monitored in a special clinic
often fail to make the lifestyle adjustments that will protect them from future heart problems, write Scottish researchers.
In two papers published in the May 9th issue of the Journal, Dr. Neil C. Campbell of the University of Aberdeen,
Scotland, and colleagues report that nearly all heart disease patients at 19 Scottish general practices who did not attend
prevention clinics continued to maintain one risky habit, such as smoking, and nearly two-thirds had continued at least
two dangerous habits.
In contrast, Scottish heart patients who attended nurse-run clinics that promote heart-healthy lifestyles showed better
physical mobility and had fewer hospital admissions after only one year.
In the first study of 1,921 patients receiving all their care from general practitioners, the researchers found that many
patients were not receiving drugs that could prevent a second heart attack. Only 63% of patients were taking aspirin in
the aftermath of an episode with heart disease. And only 32% of those who had recently had a heart attack were taking
beta-blockers.
While 82% of these patients were receiving blood pressure checks, only 17% were being monitored for high
cholesterol. Moreover, 51% of the patients didn't exercise much, if at all, and 18% smoked. Some 64% were
overweight and 52% consumed more than the recommended amount of fat.
"There seems to be considerable potential to increase secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in general
practice," the researchers conclude.
But in the second study, Campbell and colleagues report that 1,173 patients who also attended the special clinics
showed improvement in 6 out of 8 health measures. Fewer patients required hospital admission during the year than
members of a control group and fewer reported increased chest pain.
However, the researchers found that the clinics had no effect on anxiety and depression in these patients.
"Overall, secondary prevention clinics improved patients' health. Most benefit was in functional status, but there were
also improvements in chest pain and less need for hospital admissions," they report. SOURCE: British Medical Journal
(1998;316:1430-1434, 1434-1437) |
