Few individuals with CVD risk offered lifestyle support
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Poor maintenance of electronic health records may contribute to the low reported numbers of lifestyle interventions offered to individuals with high BP, high cholesterol or obesity in England, researchers reported.
“As a starting point, improvements in formal recording of lifestyle interventions in routine medical records are needed,” Julia M. Lemp, MSc, of the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Germany, said in a press release.
In the retrospective cohort study, Lemp and colleagues analyzed 770,711 adults newly diagnosed with hypertension, hyperlipidemia or obesity from 2010 to 2019, with findings published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
In individuals with hypertension, lifestyle intervention or directions for navigating the diagnosis were recorded in the EHRs of only 55.6% (95% CI, 54.9-56.4) of those diagnosed in the study period.
Similarly, fewer than half of individuals with hyperlipidemia had records of lifestyle intervention. Within the 1 year before and after initial diagnosis, only 45.2% (95% CI, 43.8-46.6) of these individuals had recorded lifestyle support.
In individuals with obesity, 52.6% had electronic record of lifestyle intervention or direction, leaving about half without any record of lifestyle support for their diagnosis.
The researchers also reported several limitations. Some individuals may receive interventions, but they are not recorded electronically by general practitioners. Additionally, the researchers did not follow up with individuals who had records to determine whether they achieved a proposed lifestyle intervention.
A lack of suggested lifestyle support for high BP, high cholesterol or obesity may mean that these individuals turn to medication to treat their conditions rather than taking a nonpharmaceutical route, the researchers wrote.
“Given the large burden of cardiovascular disease on primary health care services and lack of long-term follow-up on the effectiveness and equity of access to lifestyle interventions for conditions predisposing patients to cardiovascular disease, the use of electronic health records will be indispensable to better understand their use and impact,” Lemp said in the release.
Reference:
- New analysis shows only half of people at risk of cardiovascular disease receive lifestyle support. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/943960. Published on Feb. 17, 2022. Accessed on Feb. 23, 2022.
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Lemp J, et al. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2022;doi:10.1177/01410768221077381.
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