Computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) in primary care

Objectives. We aimed to study the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD ) risk factors among 11 000 inhabitants in Northern Helsinki, and to identi fy high-risk individuals in the area and direct them to the local primary-h ealth-care-centred CVD-risk-factor prevention program me. Method. We conducted a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI), a desc riptive survey and primary care unit searching for CVD risk factors within the population under its responsibility. Six hundred and sixty-seven indivi duals aged 18-65 years out of 1000 randomly chosen inhabitants were intervi ewed using CATI. We measured the prevalence of self-reported CVD risk facto rs: smoking, blood pressure, last measured total serum cholesterol, body ma ss index (BMI), alcohol consumption, diabetes, physical exercise habits, po sitive family history of CVD/diabetes and personal history of CVD. Results. Sixty-seven per cent of the sample was interviewed. Nineteen per c ent did not have a telephone and 3% refused to be interviewed. Eleven per c ent did not respond. Persons with high cardiovascular risk scores were obse rved mainly in the oldest age group. In the total sample, 23% of women and 28% of men were estimated to be at high risk of coronary artery disease. Ge nder differences were seen only in one age-group: 45-54-year-old men report ing higher risk-factor scores. The results were analysed using the Statisti cal Analysis System (SAS). Conclusions. The CATI-method is a useful tool in screening of high-CVD-risk patients and in guiding them to local CVD primary prevention programmes.