BMJ  2007;335:577 (22 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.39339.446285.3A

Letters

Cardiovascular prevention

Risk factors inform screening

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

First degree relatives of patients with coronary heart disease are at higher risk than the general population.1 Screening first degree relatives would be an improvement on unselected screening. However, family history is only one of several risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Selecting patients for screening on the basis of multiple risk factors is better than selecting patients on the basis of one risk factor. For most patients, many risk factors are known. All patients have an electronic record of their age and sex. Most patients have an electronic record of their smoking status and blood pressure, and some have a cholesterol measurement. If diagnosed, patients with diabetes have an electronic record of this diagnosis. If they have a family history of premature coronary heart disease, some patients have a record of this fact.

Earlier in 2007 I collected electronic data from three large general practices. Of 19 552 patients aged . . . [Full text of this article]

Tom P Marshall, senior lecturer in public health

University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT

T.P.Marshall@bham.ac.uk


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Relevant Article

Families of patients with premature coronary heart disease: an obvious but neglected target for primary prevention
C K Chow, A C H Pell, A Walker, C O'Dowd, A F Dominiczak, and J P Pell
BMJ 2007 335: 481-485. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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