Document Detail


Impact of opinion leader-endorsed evidence summaries on the quality of prescribing for patients with cardiovascular disease: a randomized controlled trial.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  17174632     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Local opinion leaders are educationally and socially influential physicians. Although they can accelerate the adoption of new evidence in hospitals, their impact on the quality of prescribing for outpatients has only been examined by a few studies. We hypothesized that an intervention consisting of patient-specific one-page evidence summaries, generated and endorsed by local opinion leaders, would improve prescribing of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in heart failure (HF) and that of statins in ischemic heart disease (IHD). METHODS: We conducted a community-based randomized controlled trial in patients with HF (not receiving ACE inhibitors or ARBs) and those with IHD (not receiving statins) who were recruited from 40 pharmacies and allocated either to the opinion leader intervention or to usual care based on randomization of their primary care physician. The primary outcome was an increase in the use of efficacious therapies (ACE inhibitors or ARBs in HF and statins in IHD) within 6 months; the secondary outcomes were prescribing changes for HF or IHD. RESULTS: A total of 171 patients participated in the study; 87 were allocated to the intervention, whereas 84 were assigned to the control group. The median age of the participants was 75 years; 103 (60%) were female, 54 (32%) had HF, and 117 (68%) had IHD. Overall, 21 (24%) intervention patients started receiving an efficacious medication within 6 months, as compared with 15 (18%) control subjects (relative risk of improvement 1.32, 95% CI 0.73-2.40, P = .31). In the HF subgroup, 38% of the intervention patients started receiving an ACE inhibitor or ARB therapy, as compared with 20% of control subjects (relative risk of improvement 1.90, 95% CI 0.76-4.72, P = .15). In the IHD subgroup, 17% of the intervention patients and 17% of the control subjects started receiving statin therapy (P = .97). CONCLUSIONS: The influence of local opinion leaders may be useful for improving the quality of cardiovascular prescribing in the community, but the benefits are likely modest and may be disease specific. Further studies on this method are warranted.
Authors:
Sumit R Majumdar; Ross T Tsuyuki; Finlay A McAlister
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  American heart journal     Volume:  153     ISSN:  1097-6744     ISO Abbreviation:  Am. Heart J.     Publication Date:  2007 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2006-12-18     Completed Date:  2007-01-25     Revised Date:  2007-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0370465     Medline TA:  Am Heart J     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  22.e1-8     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Data Bank Information
Bank Name/Acc. No.:
ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00175279; ISRCTN/ISRCTN26365328
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alberta
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
Disease Management
Feedback
Female
Heart Failure / drug therapy*
Humans
Interprofessional Relations
Leadership
Male
Myocardial Ischemia / drug therapy*
Physician's Practice Patterns*
Quality of Health Care*
Receptors, Angiotensin / antagonists & inhibitors*
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; 0/Receptors, Angiotensin
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
Am Heart J. 2007 Jan;153(1):1-3   [PMID:  17174625 ]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  A quality guarantee in acute coronary syndromes: the American College of Cardiology's Guidelines App...
Next Document:  Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) hospital discharge risk score accurately predicts l...