Certain cardiac risk factors predict risk factor interventions and influence communication between physicians and patients

The low rate of risk factor treatment suggests that preventive strategies a re not being applied uniformly.(1-7) Previous data from the 1991 to 1992 Na tional Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys suggests that patterns of cholestero l management may be influenced by nonclinical patient characteristics.(8) I dentification of patient characteristics that act as barriers to effective risk factor management may aid in targeting specific patient populations an d facilitate the more widespread application of prevention measures. In the present study, we examined whether certain clinical conditions can predict which patients get cardiovascular risk factor interventions, and we analyz ed how physicians and patients report these interventions in an effort to u nderstand better how they communicate about prevention activities.