• Heidemarie Keller, Tanja Krones, Annette Becker, Oliver Hirsch, Andreas C Sönnichsen, Uwe Popert, Petra Kaufmann-Kolle, Justine Rochon, Karl Wegscheider, Erika Baum, and Norbert Donner-Banzhoff.
• Department of General Practice, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 4, Marburg, Germany. kellerhe@staff.uni-marburg.de
• Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2012 Jun 1; 19 (3): 322-9.

BackgroundEvidence on the effectiveness of educational interventions on prescribing behaviour modification in prevention of cardiovascular disease is still insufficient. We evaluated the effects of a brief educational intervention on prescription of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), inhibitors of platelet aggregation (IPA), and antihypertensive agents (AH).DesignCluster randomised controlled trial with continuous medical education (CME) groups of general practitioners (GPs).MethodsPrescription of statins, IPA, and AH were verified prior to study start (BL), immediately after index consultation (IC), and at follow-up after 6 months (FU). Prescription in patients at high risk (>15% risk of a cardiovascular event in 10 years, based on the Framingham equation) and no prescription in low-risk patients (≤ 15%) were considered appropriate.ResultsAn intervention effect on prescribing could only be found for IPA. Generally, changes in prescription over time were all directed towards higher prescription rates and persisted to FU, independent of risk status and group allocation.ConclusionsThe active implementation of a brief evidence-based educational intervention on global risk in CVD did not lead directly to risk-adjusted changes in prescription. Investigations on an extended time scale would capture whether decision support of this kind would improve prescribing risk-adjusted sustainably.

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