Up to half of people with a cardiovascular risk factor did not see a primary care clinician or cardiologist in the past year
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, April 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Primary care is the dominant source of care for Life’s Essential 8 (LE8), according to a research letter published online March 25 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Michael E. Johansen, M.D., from OhioHealth in Columbus, and colleagues sought to determine the amount of care for LE8 that is performed by primary care, given its role in access, screening, and prevention. The analysis included data from 68,062 participants (older than 17 years) in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2017 to 2019).
The researchers found that rates of meeting the LE8 measures varied from 3.8 percent for tobacco treatment to 52.9 percent for those who received a medical checkup. Across all LE8 measures, primary care alone was the most involved in LE8-related care, ranging from 43.1 percent of people with tobacco use to 69.2 percent of people who received tobacco treatment. The combination of cardiology and primary care together cared for 4.5 percent with tobacco use (the lowest measure) to up to 19.2 percent of statin users. Cardiology alone was associated with care of 1.3 percent of tobacco users to 3.9 percent of statin users. Many people saw neither primary care nor cardiology (51.1 percent of tobacco users).
“Supporting primary care in their core functions of preventive care and chronic management will be key to achieving cardiovascular health,” the authors write.
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