There were no significant effects of interventions on mean blood pressure or cholesterol levels , prescribing , smoking status or body mass index .
There was some suggestion of a " ceiling effect " whereby interventions have a diminishing beneficial effect once certain levels of risk factor management are reached .
There is weak evidence that regular planned recall of patients for appointments , structured monitoring of risk factors and prescribing , and education for patients can be effective in increasing the proportions of patients within target levels for cholesterol control and blood pressure .
BACKGROUND Ischaemic heart disease ( IHD ) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity and its prevalence is set to increase .
Secondary prevention aims to prevent subsequent acute events in people with established IHD .
While the benefits of individual medical and lifestyle interventions is established , the effectiveness of interventions which seek to improve the way secondary preventive care is delivered in primary care or community setting s is less so .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effectiveness of service organisation interventions , identifying which types and elements of service change are associated with most improvement in clinician and patient adherence to secondary prevention recommendations relating to risk factor levels and monitoring ( blood pressure , cholesterol and lifestyle factors such as diet , exercise , smoking and obesity ) and appropriate prophylactic medication .
Efficacy of an intensive prevention program in coronary patients in primary care, a randomised clinical trial.
BACKGROUND Most studies that have analysed the effect of secondary prevention of coronary heart disease come from hospitals . Those that are community-based have been conducted mainly by nurses and follow-up was generally too short to show impact on cardiovascular events . METHODS This is a multi-centre r and omised controlled clinical trial in which patients in the intervention group received periodic postal reminders to see their general practitioner every three months during a 3-year follow-up . General practitioners reinforced healthy lifestyle recommendations to patients and review ed drug therapies at these quarterly intervals . Patients in the control group  received usual care . RESULTS A total of 983 patients aged 30 - 79 were included . During the 3-year follow-up , 67 patients died and 156 experienced a non-fatal cardiovascular event . The event rates and all-cause mortality were similar in the intervention and control groups ( 24.0 % and 23.5 % , and 8.1 % and 9.9 % , respectively ) . Improvement in quality of life was similar in both groups . Blood pressure and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were more frequently within recommended levels in the intervention group than in controls : odds ratio 1.63 , 95 % confidence interval 1.05 - 2.51 , and odds ratio 2.61 , 95 % confidence interval 1.32 - 5.18 , respectively . CONCLUSIONS Intensive secondary prevention conducted by general practitioners may improve long-term blood pressure control and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with stable coronary disease
There were no significant effects of interventions on mean blood pressure or cholesterol levels , prescribing , smoking status or body mass index .
There was some suggestion of a " ceiling effect " whereby interventions have a diminishing beneficial effect once certain levels of risk factor management are reached .
There is weak evidence that regular planned recall of patients for appointments , structured monitoring of risk factors and prescribing , and education for patients can be effective in increasing the proportions of patients within target levels for cholesterol control and blood pressure .
BACKGROUND Ischaemic heart disease ( IHD ) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity and its prevalence is set to increase .
Secondary prevention aims to prevent subsequent acute events in people with established IHD .
While the benefits of individual medical and lifestyle interventions is established , the effectiveness of interventions which seek to improve the way secondary preventive care is delivered in primary care or community setting s is less so .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effectiveness of service organisation interventions , identifying which types and elements of service change are associated with most improvement in clinician and patient adherence to secondary prevention recommendations relating to risk factor levels and monitoring ( blood pressure , cholesterol and lifestyle factors such as diet , exercise , smoking and obesity ) and appropriate prophylactic medication .