Is general practice identification of prior cardiovascular disease at the time of CVD risk assessment accurate and does it matter?
Sue Wells, Katrina K Poppe, Vanessa Selak, Andrew Kerr, Romana Pylypchuk, Billy Wu, Wing Cheuk Chan, Corina Grey, Suneela Mehta, Dudley GR Gentles, Rod Jackson
It is important for patient care to identify a patient s full clinical history so that they may be offered the most appropriate treatment known to improve health outcomes. For people with a history of prior cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as heart attack, stroke or narrowing of major blood vessels, triple therapy (a combination of blood pressure-lowering, lipid-lowering and antiplatelet/anticoagulant medications) could reduce the risk of recurrent events by at least 50% over five years. Information may get lost in multiple ways from hospital to general practice to the patient visit. We found that lack of accurate recording at the time of a first CVD risk assessment did impact on patients receiving evidence-based medications and was worse for people aged less than 55 years, women and those of non-European ethnicities. This study highlights the need for whole of system clinical information to be available via robust data sharing, automation of coding and clinical reminders to better support patients and general practices at the time of clinical decision making and address inequities in health outcomes.
