Realising the potential of the family history in risk assessment and primary prevention of coronary heart disease in primary care: ADDFAM study protocol

Improving identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia in primary care: Pre- and post-intervention study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a major cause of premature heart disease but remains unrecognised in most patients. This study investigated if a systematic primary care-based approach to identify and manage possible FH improves recommended best clinical practice.

METHODS

Pre- and post-intervention study in six UK general practices (population 45,033), which invited patients with total cholesterol >7.5 mmol/L to be assessed for possible FH. Compliance with national guideline recommendations to identify and manage possible FH (repeat cholesterol; assess family history of heart disease; identify secondary causes and clinical features; reduce total & LDL-cholesterol; statin prescribing; lifestyle advice) was assessed by calculating the absolute difference in measures of care pre- and six months post-intervention.

RESULTS

The intervention improved best clinical practice in 118 patients consenting to assessment (of 831 eligible patients): repeat cholesterol test (+75.4%, 95% CI 66.9-82.3); family history of heart disease assessed (+35.6%, 95% CI 27.0-44.2); diagnosis of secondary causes (+7.7%, 95% CI 4.1-13.9), examining clinical features (+6.0%, 95% CI 2.9-11.7). For 32 patients diagnosed with possible FH using Simon-Broome criteria, statin prescription significantly improved (18.8%, 95% CI 8.9-35.3), with non-significant mean reductions in cholesterol post-intervention (total: -0.16 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.78-0.46; LDL: -0.12 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.81-0.57).

CONCLUSIONS

Within six months, this simple primary care intervention improved both identification and management of patients with possible FH, in line with national evidence-based guidelines. Replicating and sustaining this approach across the country could lead to substantial improvement in health outcomes for these individuals with very high cardiovascular risk.

'Why worry about something you can't control?' Negotiated risk, longevity and health behaviours

While we know about lay attitudes towards death and dying, we understand little about the ways people estimate their overall personal risk of life-limiting disease and/or death. This study contributes to the limited literature on lay longevity reckonings, with a particular focus on how these reckonings may influence health behaviours. Semi-structured interviews were held with 21 young older adults (54-65 years), addressing the core questions of 'What do you think you will die from, and how long do you expect to live?' Participants indicated their longevity estimation was guided by three key frameworks: family history, environment and lifestyle factors and lived experience. The reckoning process was also moderated by assumptions about loci of control and self-efficacy and the information available to participants. A tripartite model of death risk assessment is proposed, extending the idea of 'negotiated risk' beyond the scope of family history where it has received most attention. We argue that by drawing on the three risk-assessment frameworks, determining patients' predisposition for external/internal attributions of control and perceptions of self-efficacy, clinicians will be better equipped to understand - and thus guide - patients' reckonings of longevity and health behaviours that are influenced by it.

Feasibility of improving identification of familial hypercholesterolaemia in general practice: intervention development study

OBJECTIVES

To assess the feasibility of improving identification of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) in primary care, and of collecting outcome measures to inform a future trial.

DESIGN

Feasibility intervention study.

SETTING

6 general practices (GPs) in central England.

PARTICIPANTS

831 eligible patients with elevated cholesterol >7.5 mmol/L were identified, by search of electronic health records, for recruitment to the intervention.

INTERVENTION

Educational session in practice; use of opportunistic computer reminders in consultations or universal postal invitation over 6 months to eligible patients invited to complete a family history questionnaire. Those fulfilling the Simon-Broome criteria for possible FH were invited for GP assessment and referred for specialist definitive diagnosis.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Rates of recruitment of eligible patients, identification of patients with possible FH, referral to specialist care, diagnosis of confirmed FH in specialist care; and feasibility of collecting relevant outcome measures for a future trial.

RESULTS

Of 173 general practices, 18 were interested in participating and 6 were recruited. From 831 eligible patients, 127 (15.3%) were recruited and completed family history questionnaires: 86 (10.7%) through postal invitation and 41 (4.9%) opportunistically. Among the 127 patients, 32 (25.6%) had a possible diagnosis of FH in primary care. Within 6 months of completing recruitment, 7 patients had had specialist assessment confirming 2 patients with definite FH (28.6%), and 5 patients with possible FH (71.4%). Potential trial outcome measures for lipid tests, statin prescribing and secondary causes of hypercholesterolaemia were extracted using automated data extraction from electronic records alone without recourse to other methods.

CONCLUSIONS

The intervention is feasible to implement in GP, and facilitates recruitment of patients with raised cholesterol for targeted assessment and identification of FH. Extracting data directly from electronic records could be used to evaluate relevant outcome measures in a future trial.

Building the evidence base for decision making in cancer genomic medicine using comparative effectiveness research

The clinical utility is uncertain for many cancer genomic applications. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) can provide evidence to clarify this uncertainty. The aim of this study was to identify approaches to help stakeholders make evidence-based decisions and to describe potential challenges and opportunities in using CER to produce evidence-based guidance. We identified general CER approaches for genomic applications through literature review, the authors' experiences, and lessons learned from a recent, seven-site CER initiative in cancer genomic medicine. Case studies illustrate the use of CER approaches. Evidence generation and synthesis approaches used in CER include comparative observational and randomized trials, patient-reported outcomes, decision modeling, and economic analysis. Significant challenges to conducting CER in cancer genomics include the rapid pace of innovation, lack of regulation, and variable definitions and evidence thresholds for clinical and personal utility. Opportunities to capitalize on CER methods in cancer genomics include improvements in the conduct of evidence synthesis, stakeholder engagement, increasing the number of comparative studies, and developing approaches to inform clinical guidelines and research prioritization. CER offers a variety of methodological approaches that can address stakeholders' needs and help ensure an effective translation of genomic discoveries.

Beyond beliefs: risk assessment technologies shaping patients' experiences of heart disease prevention

Social science research on lifestyle-related diseases typically focuses on patients' understandings and beliefs and takes the clinical risk for granted. We interviewed 30 healthy UK patients at high risk of heart disease, recruited from a family history trial at 2 weeks and 6 months after a discussion with a clinician about their risk, lifestyle and medications. The participants took four different paths: (i) pharmaceutical (most common, risk reduction with cholesterol lowering statins), (ii) mixed (statins and behaviour change), (iii) behavioural (behaviour change, focus on wellbeing) and (iv) 'lost' (no prevention, difficult social/personal circumstances). Drawing on Berg we argue that coronary heart disease (CHD) risk assessment technologies are formal tools that generate, rather than represent, high risk in a way that patients often experience lifestyle change as futile, because it rarely reduces their cholesterol to targets defined by the tools. We suggest social scientists studying incipient or 'proto-diseases', such as CHD risk, should not only focus on understandings but also investigate the technologies (and the associated guidelines, policies, clinical practice and pharmaceutical industry operations) that generate incipient diseases and patients' experiences of them. However, technologies do not determine experience and we also discuss elements that direct patients down other than the pharmaceutical path.

'The family is part of the treatment really': a qualitative exploration of collective health narratives in families

Clinicians are increasingly asking questions about family history to inform decision making, but the quality of decisions rests on the quality of information provided by the patient. In families with genetically transmitted diseases, research has found a strong collective understanding of inheritance and risk, developed through constant communication between family members. Here, we explore whether there are similar processes in families with more common conditions like heart disease, asthma or osteo-arthritis. From in-depth interviews with lay people, we found that families created a culture of 'health talk', especially between sisters. Caring for other family members was demonstrated through sharing vital health information; on the other hand care could be shown by not worrying family members by talking about possibly inherited illness. Patterns of inheritance and health were talked about in participants' families (resemblance, similar conditions and affected body areas). From these, a picture developed of what the family was 'like' in health terms. Overall, experiential knowledge and family narrative was interwoven with expert discourse to form a complex understanding of medical family histories.