How is it that, despite a plethora of clinical guidelines and public health messages, more than half of Australian patients with CVD fail to receive optimal care?

Because that is the surprising finding of Associate Professor Charlotte Hespe’s study of primary care management of cardiovascular risk.

Professor Hespe, chair of the RACGP’s NSW and ACT faculty, reported the results of the analysis of real-world data from 102,000 general practice patients in a research letter in the Medical Journal of Australia in October.

The study shows that just 57% of those at high risk of CVD and those with established disease, as identified by the Australian absolute CVD risk calculator, are being prescribed recommended treatment.