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Awareness and treatment of cardiovascular disease risk factors among middle-aged Swedish men and women

Ovhed, Ingvar ; Odeberg, Håkan LU ; Troein, Margareta LU orcid and Råstam, Lennart LU (1998) In Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care 16(3). p.165-170
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To study awareness and treatment of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in a primary care district where a screening program for hypercholesterolaemia involving one third of the population had been conducted 7 years earlier. DESIGN: A semi-structured telephone survey on four risk factors; blood pressure, serum cholesterol, blood sugar, and smoking habits. SETTING: The study was performed in a defined area in Blekinge county in Sweden. SUBJECTS: A random sample of the general population aged 40-49 years, in total 356 people. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Awareness of individual risk factors, for cardiovascular diseases, on-going medication, and lifestyle changes in order to lower individual risks. RESULTS: A total of 95% had had... (More)
OBJECTIVE: To study awareness and treatment of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in a primary care district where a screening program for hypercholesterolaemia involving one third of the population had been conducted 7 years earlier. DESIGN: A semi-structured telephone survey on four risk factors; blood pressure, serum cholesterol, blood sugar, and smoking habits. SETTING: The study was performed in a defined area in Blekinge county in Sweden. SUBJECTS: A random sample of the general population aged 40-49 years, in total 356 people. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Awareness of individual risk factors, for cardiovascular diseases, on-going medication, and lifestyle changes in order to lower individual risks. RESULTS: A total of 95% had had their blood pressure measured at least once, compared with 69% for serum cholesterol. Twenty-two per cent had at some time been told that they had high blood pressure, and, of these, almost half (44%) received pharmacological treatment. Among the 62 subjects who were informed about hyperlipidaemia only 5% were taking a lipid-reducing drug. Among present smokers, 38% had had at least one quitting episode during the previous 2 years with a median duration of 60 days. CONCLUSION: In a general population there is a difference between blood pressure and cholesterol check-up and medicalization. Screening activities seem to raise the awareness of cardiovascular risk factors in a population, but when evaluating the tendency to change lifestyle the contagious effects of screening activities might be taken into account. Finding quick-relapsing former smokers among current non-smokers may be of importance when planning smoking cessation activities. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
awareness, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, lifestyle, smoking cessation.
in
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
volume
16
issue
3
pages
165 - 170
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • pmid:9800230
  • scopus:0031711316
ISSN
0281-3432
DOI
10.1080/028134398750003124
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e1b6bafb-d427-4865-8604-0c24f76bac18 (old id 1112721)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:00:15
date last changed
2022-01-26 21:22:55
@article{e1b6bafb-d427-4865-8604-0c24f76bac18,
  abstract     = {{OBJECTIVE: To study awareness and treatment of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in a primary care district where a screening program for hypercholesterolaemia involving one third of the population had been conducted 7 years earlier. DESIGN: A semi-structured telephone survey on four risk factors; blood pressure, serum cholesterol, blood sugar, and smoking habits. SETTING: The study was performed in a defined area in Blekinge county in Sweden. SUBJECTS: A random sample of the general population aged 40-49 years, in total 356 people. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Awareness of individual risk factors, for cardiovascular diseases, on-going medication, and lifestyle changes in order to lower individual risks. RESULTS: A total of 95% had had their blood pressure measured at least once, compared with 69% for serum cholesterol. Twenty-two per cent had at some time been told that they had high blood pressure, and, of these, almost half (44%) received pharmacological treatment. Among the 62 subjects who were informed about hyperlipidaemia only 5% were taking a lipid-reducing drug. Among present smokers, 38% had had at least one quitting episode during the previous 2 years with a median duration of 60 days. CONCLUSION: In a general population there is a difference between blood pressure and cholesterol check-up and medicalization. Screening activities seem to raise the awareness of cardiovascular risk factors in a population, but when evaluating the tendency to change lifestyle the contagious effects of screening activities might be taken into account. Finding quick-relapsing former smokers among current non-smokers may be of importance when planning smoking cessation activities.}},
  author       = {{Ovhed, Ingvar and Odeberg, Håkan and Troein, Margareta and Råstam, Lennart}},
  issn         = {{0281-3432}},
  keywords     = {{awareness; blood pressure; cardiovascular disease; cholesterol; lifestyle; smoking cessation.}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{165--170}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care}},
  title        = {{Awareness and treatment of cardiovascular disease risk factors among middle-aged Swedish men and women}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/028134398750003124}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/028134398750003124}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{1998}},
}