Use of Electronic Support for Implementing Global Cardiovascular Risk Management.

Introduction: The EFFECTUS (Evaluation of Final Feasible Effect of Control Training and Ultra Sensitisation) study is an educational programme, aimed at implementing global cardiovascular risk management in daily clinical practice in Italy. Objective: To evaluate global cardiovascular risk management among physicians stratified according to the use of conventional (CS) or electronic (ES) support for clinical data collection and registration. Methods: Involved physicians were asked to submit data into a study-designed, case-report form, covering the first ten adult outpatients consecutively seen in May 2006. A case-report form was made available on CS or ES, depending on physicians' preferences and attitudes. All available data were centrally analysed for global cardiovascular risk assessment and cardiovascular risk profile characterization. Results: Overall, 1078 physicians (27% females, aged 50 - 7 years) collected data from 9904 outpatients (46.5% females, aged 67 - 9 years). 299 physicians used CS for 2672 (27.0%) patients, whereas the remaining 779 physicians used ES for 7232 patients (73.0%). A higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease (mostly previous myocardial infarction) and stroke, was recorded by physicians using CS compared with those using ES. Blood pressure and fasting glucose levels were significantly higher in the CS group than in the ES group, although a significantly higher number of antihypertensive, glucose and lipid-lowering prescriptions was reported in the former than in the latter group. Physicians using ES paid significantly more attention to collecting data concerning cardiovascular risk factors, which were also more up-to-date compared with those recorded by physicians using CS. Conclusions: This sub-analysis of the EFFECTUS study indicates a higher attention to the collection and management of data on major cardiovascular risk factors in physicians using ES than in those using CS. Our findings may suggest a potential way to improve global cardiovascular risk management in the clinical practices of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]