Abstract
ObjectiveNon-adherence to guidelines and preventive measures is a major challenge, particularly so to obtain long-term adherence to lifestyle changes and recommended medication. The objective was to investigate if pictorial information regarding subclinical carotid atherosclerosis provided to individuals and physicians gave sustained effects on cardiovascular risk beyond the previously reported effect after 1 year and up to 3 years. MethodsA Prospective Randomized Open Blinded End-point (PROBE) trial. Within a CVD prevention program in Västerbotten County, Sweden, 3532 healthy individuals aged 40, 50 or 60 years were enrolled and 1:1 randomized to intervention (n = 1749; pictorial information with additional prevention materials to participants and physicians) or control group (n = 1783; no pictorial information to participants and physicians). Preventive measures were managed within primary care. Participants were investigated at baseline during 2013–2016 and at follow-up after 1 and 3 years. ResultsA beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk was observed at 3-year follow-up; Framingham Risk Score (FRS) was 13.38 for the intervention group and 14.08 for the control group (p = 0.047) and SCORE was 1.69 vs. 1.82 (p = 0.022). The effect observed at 1-year was sustained over 3 years after adjustment for sex and education and more pronounced among participants with a severe atherosclerotic picture at baseline. ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of sustained beneficial effects on the adherence to prevention guidelines over 3 years of pictorial information about subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, resulting in lower cardiovascular risk regardless of sex and educational level. Direct visualization of the underlying still subclinical atherosclerotic disease, rather than just indirect information about risk factors and statistical risk of future myocardial infarction, stroke and death, is one way to tackle the problem of non-adherence to prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
