Uptake and detection rate of a stepwise cardiometabolic disease detection program in primary care - A cohort study

Background: Early detection and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) in high-risk patients is a promising preventive strategy to anticipate the increasing burden of CMD. The Dutch guideline 'the prevention consultation' provides a framework for stepwise CMD risk assessment and detection in primary care. The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of this program in terms of newly diagnosed CMD. Methods: A cohort study among 30 934 patients, aged 45-70 years without known CMD or CMD risk factors, who were invited for the CMD detection program within 37 general practices. Patients filled out a CMD risk score (step 1), were referred for additional risk profiling in case of high risk (step 2) and received lifestyle advice and (pharmacological) treatment if indicated (step 3). During 1-year follow-up newly diagnosed CMD, prescriptions and abnormal diagnostic tests were assessed. Results: Twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight patients filled out the risk score of which 865, 6665 and 5208 had a low, intermediate and high CMD risk, respectively. One thousand seven hundred and fifty-five high-risk patients consulted the general practitioner, in 346 of whom a new CMD was diagnosed. In an additional 422 patients a new prescription and/or abnormal diagnostic test were found. Conclusions: Implementation of the CMD detection program resulted in a new CMD diagnosis in one-fifth of high-risk patients who attended the practice for completion of their risk profile. However, the potential yield of the program could be higher given the considerable number of additional risk factors - such as elevated glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels - found, requiring active follow-up and presumably treatment in the future

The association between GP organisational factors and the effectiveness of a prevention programme for cardiometabolic diseases: a prospective intervention study

BACKGROUND: Owing to the rising disease burden of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), prevention programmes for CMD are increasingly implemented in primary care. Organisational practice characteristics and availability of preventive services may be associated with a more effective programme. AIM: To identify possible organisational success factors from general practices related to an effective primary prevention programme for CMD. DESIGN & SETTING: A prospective intervention study involving 37 Dutch general practices was undertaken. METHOD: Patients aged 45-70 years without known CMD, hypertension, or hypercholesterolemia were invited for the prevention programme. The outcome measures were an improvement (yes/no) in four different CMD risk factors between baseline and 1-year follow-up on an individual level (body mass index [BMI], smoking, systolic blood pressure, and cholesterol ratio). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used for assessing associations between practice organisational characteristics and outcomes. RESULTS: Just over half of the participants showed an improvement on one or more risk factors. Marginal differences were found in the four different outcomes between the practices with different organisational characteristics. None of the practice characteristics that were tested showed a significant association with an improvement in one of the outcome measures. CONCLUSION: In this study, general practice organisational and preventive service characteristics showed no impact on the effectiveness of a CMD prevention programme. Possible explanations could be the effectiveness of protocolised pharmaceutical treatment and only limited contribution of lifestyle programmes on the improvement of CMD risk factors

Implementation of selective prevention for cardiometabolic diseases; are Dutch general practices adequately prepared?

Objective: Current guidelines acknowledge the need for cardiometabolic disease (CMD) prevention and recommend five-yearly screening of a targeted population. In recent years programs for selective CMD-prevention have been developed, but implementation is challenging. The question arises if general practices are adequately prepared. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the organizational preparedness of Dutch general practices and the facilitators and barriers for performing CMD-prevention in practices currently implementing selective CMD-prevention. Design: Observational study. Setting: Dutch primary care. Subjects: General practices. Main outcome measures: Organizational characteristics. Results: General practices implementing selective CMD-prevention are more often organized as a group practice (49% vs. 19%, p =.000) and are better organized regarding chronic disease management compared to reference practices. They are motivated for performing CMD-prevention and can be considered as ‘frontrunners’ of Dutch general practices with respect to their practice organization. The most important reported barriers are a limited availability of staff (59%) and inadequate funding (41%). Conclusions: The organizational infrastructure of Dutch general practices is considered adequate for performing most steps of selective CMD-prevention. Implementation of prevention programs including easily accessible lifestyle interventions needs attention. All stakeholders involved share the responsibility to realize structural funding for programmed CMD-prevention. Aforementioned conditions should be taken into account with respect to future implementation of selective CMD-prevention.Key Points There is need for adequate CMD prevention. Little is known about the organization of selective CMD prevention in general practices. • The organizational infrastructure of Dutch general practices is adequate for performing most steps of selective CMD prevention. • Implementation of selective CMD prevention programs including easily accessible services for lifestyle support should be the focus of attention. • Policy makers, health insurance companies and healthcare professionals share the responsibility to realize structural funding for selective CMD prevention

Implementation of selective prevention for cardiometabolic diseases; are Dutch general practices adequately prepared?

Objective: Current guidelines acknowledge the need for cardiometabolic disease (CMD) prevention and recommend five-yearly screening of a targeted population. In recent years programs for selective CMD-prevention have been developed, but implementation is challenging. The question arises if general practices are adequately prepared. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the organizational preparedness of Dutch general practices and the facilitators and barriers for performing CMD-prevention in practices currently implementing selective CMD-prevention. Design: Observational study. Setting: Dutch primary care. Subjects: General practices. Main outcome measures: Organizational characteristics. Results: General practices implementing selective CMD-prevention are more often organized as a group practice (49% vs. 19%, p =.000) and are better organized regarding chronic disease management compared to reference practices. They are motivated for performing CMD-prevention and can be considered as ‘frontrunners’ of Dutch general practices with respect to their practice organization. The most important reported barriers are a limited availability of staff (59%) and inadequate funding (41%). Conclusions: The organizational infrastructure of Dutch general practices is considered adequate for performing most steps of selective CMD-prevention. Implementation of prevention programs including easily accessible lifestyle interventions needs attention. All stakeholders involved share the responsibility to realize structural funding for programmed CMD-prevention. Aforementioned conditions should be taken into account with respect to future implementation of selective CMD-prevention.Key Points There is need for adequate CMD prevention. Little is known about the organization of selective CMD prevention in general practices. • The organizational infrastructure of Dutch general practices is adequate for performing most steps of selective CMD prevention. • Implementation of selective CMD prevention programs including easily accessible services for lifestyle support should be the focus of attention. • Policy makers, health insurance companies and healthcare professionals share the responsibility to realize structural funding for selective CMD prevention

Uptake and detection rate of a stepwise cardiometabolic disease detection program in primary care - A cohort study

Background: Early detection and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) in high-risk patients is a promising preventive strategy to anticipate the increasing burden of CMD. The Dutch guideline 'the prevention consultation' provides a framework for stepwise CMD risk assessment and detection in primary care. The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of this program in terms of newly diagnosed CMD. Methods: A cohort study among 30 934 patients, aged 45-70 years without known CMD or CMD risk factors, who were invited for the CMD detection program within 37 general practices. Patients filled out a CMD risk score (step 1), were referred for additional risk profiling in case of high risk (step 2) and received lifestyle advice and (pharmacological) treatment if indicated (step 3). During 1-year follow-up newly diagnosed CMD, prescriptions and abnormal diagnostic tests were assessed. Results: Twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight patients filled out the risk score of which 865, 6665 and 5208 had a low, intermediate and high CMD risk, respectively. One thousand seven hundred and fifty-five high-risk patients consulted the general practitioner, in 346 of whom a new CMD was diagnosed. In an additional 422 patients a new prescription and/or abnormal diagnostic test were found. Conclusions: Implementation of the CMD detection program resulted in a new CMD diagnosis in one-fifth of high-risk patients who attended the practice for completion of their risk profile. However, the potential yield of the program could be higher given the considerable number of additional risk factors - such as elevated glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels - found, requiring active follow-up and presumably treatment in the future

COHORT PROFILE Cohort Profile: The Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey

The Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Survey is a community-based, random sample, epidemiologic cohort of n 5502 Boston (MA) residents. The baseline BACH Survey (2002–05) was designed to explore the mechanisms conferring increased health risks on minority populations with a particular focus on urologic signs/symptoms and type 2 diabetes. To this end, the cohort was designed to include adequate numbers of US racial/ethnic minorities (Black, Hispanic, White), both men and women, across a broad age of distribution. Follow-up surveys were conducted 5 (BACH II, 2008) and 7 (BACH III, 2010) years later, which allows for both within- and between-person com-parisons over time. The BACH Survey’s measures were designed to cover the following seven broad categories: socio-demographics, health care access/utilization, lifestyles, psychosocial factors, health status, physical measures and biochemical parameters. The breadth of measures has allowed BACH researchers to identify dis-parities and quantify contributions to social disparities in a number of health conditions including urologic conditions (e.g. nocturia, lower urinary tract symptoms, prostatitis), type 2 diabetes, obesity, bone mineral content and density, and physical function. BACH I data are available through the National Institute of Diabetes an

Effectiveness of a stepwise cardiometabolic disease prevention program: Results of a randomized controlled trial in primary care

Effective preventive strategies for cardiometabolic disease (CMD) are needed. We aim to establish the effectiveness of a stepwise CMD risk assessment followed by individualized treatment if indicated compared to care as usual. We conducted a RCT between 2014 and 2017. Individuals (45–70 years) without CMD or CMD risk factors were invited for stepwise CMD risk assessment through a risk score (step1), additional risk assessment at the practice in case of high-risk (step2) and individualized follow-up treatment if indicated (step3). We compared newly detected CMD and newly prescribed drugs during one-year follow-up, and change in CMD risk profile between baseline and one-year follow-up among participants who completed step2 to matched controls. A CMD was diagnosed almost three times more often (OR 2.90, 95% CI 2.25: 3.72) in the intervention compared to the control group, in parallel with newly prescribed antihypertensive and lipid lowering drugs (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.96: 4.15 and 3.23, 95% CI 2.03: 5.14 respectively). Waist circumference significantly decreased between the intervention compared to the control group (mean −3.08 cm, 95% CI −3.73: −2.43). No differences were observed for changes in BMI and smoking. Systolic blood pressure (mean −2.26 mmHg, 95% CI −4.01: −0.51) and cholesterol ratio (mean −0.11, 95% CI −0.19: −0.02) significantly decreased within intervention participants between baseline and one-year follow-up. In conclusion, implementation of the CMD prevention program resulted in the detection of two- to threefold more patients with CMD. A significant drop in systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels was found after one year of treatment. Modelling of these results should confirm the effect on long term endpoints. Trial registration: Dutch trial Register number NTR4277