There is suggestive but inconclusive evidence from the trials of a benefit in the use of brief interventions for risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease .
This review , however , supports the concept that brief interventions for patients with coronary heart disease can have beneficial effects on risk factor modification and consequently on progression of coronary heart disease .
Further trials using larger sample sizes need to be undertaken to demonstrate the benefits of brief structured intervention targeted at the modification of single or multiple risk factors
BACKGROUND The physical and psychosocial benefits of participation in cardiac rehabilitation following a coronary event have well been established .
Despite these benefits there is strong evidence that participation in traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs remains low .
Various models of cardiac rehabilitation have been implemented including the use of brief structured interventions to enable modification of coronary risk factors .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to determine the effect of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease .
Stepped care approach to smoking cessation in patients hospitalized for coronary artery disease.
PURPOSE Smoking cessation is an important goal for smokers with coronary artery disease ( CAD ) because it reduces cardiac morbidity and mortality . Effective interventions for cigarette smokers with CAD exist , but they often are considered to be intensive and expensive . Stepped-care interventions have been proposed as a promising way to allocate smoking cessation treatments in a cost-effective manner . Stepped care refers to the practice of initiating treatment with low-intensity intervention and then exposing treatment failures to successively more intense interventions . METHODS To address the efficacy of this approach , 254 cigarette smokers hospitalized with CAD were provided a brief cessation intervention . The participants then were assigned r and omly to either a more intensive stepped-care treatment ( counseling and nicotine patch therapy ) or no additional treatment . Outcomes were point-prevalent abstinence measured 3 months and 1 year after hospital discharge . RESULTS Stepped-care treatment increased smoking cessation rates from 42 % to 53 % during a 3-month follow-up period ( P = .05 ) , but showed little effect at the 1-year follow-up assessment , as evidence d by a cessation rate for the minimal intervention group of 36 % versus 39 % for the stepped-care group ( P = .36 ) . CONCLUSIONS A stepped-care approach to smoking cessation increased short-but not long-term point-prevalent abstinence in patients with CAD . For improvement of long-term effectiveness , refinement of the timing and content of stepped-care interventions needs to occur
There is suggestive but inconclusive evidence from the trials of a benefit in the use of brief interventions for risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease .
This review , however , supports the concept that brief interventions for patients with coronary heart disease can have beneficial effects on risk factor modification and consequently on progression of coronary heart disease .
Further trials using larger sample sizes need to be undertaken to demonstrate the benefits of brief structured intervention targeted at the modification of single or multiple risk factors
BACKGROUND The physical and psychosocial benefits of participation in cardiac rehabilitation following a coronary event have well been established .
Despite these benefits there is strong evidence that participation in traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs remains low .
Various models of cardiac rehabilitation have been implemented including the use of brief structured interventions to enable modification of coronary risk factors .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to determine the effect of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease .