Cardiovascular Diseases, Lipid Testing, Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
Conditions
Keywords
Cholesterol screening, High cholesterol, Cardiovascular disease, Statin treatment
Brief summary
Cholesterol screening is an important prerequisite for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. Cholesterol screening is recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Since reminder systems have been shown to modestly improve the rates of preventive services, including in safety net settings, we will implement patient-directed reminders to health center patients who meet our eligibility criteria. The aim of this study is to determine if a mailed outreach message and facilitated ordering of screening lipid tests increases cholesterol screening test completion within 3 months among federally qualified community health center patients who are eligible for screening compared to usual care.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMailed patient outreach intervention
This study's intervention is a mailed outreach letter from the health center that encourages cholesterol testing and describes the steps necessary to obtain the test at the patient's care site. Clinic staff will facilitate the ordering of tests for patients who may not have an office visit.
Sponsors
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Northwestern University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
35 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Patient at participating health center * At least 1 visit to clinic in the prior 12 months * No total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol result recorded in the electronic health record in the past 5 years * No cholesterol screening order placed within the previous 3 months * Men 35-75 years old, or women 45-75 years old who also have one of the following: hypertension, obesity, or current smoking
Exclusion criteria
* Previously diagnosed cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease or diabetes mellitus * Statin on active medication list * Preferred language other than English or Spanish
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Completion of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol test or full lipid panel | within 3 months of outreach | Primary outcome will be completion of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol test or a full lipid panel recorded within GE Centricity electronic health record at the patient's clinical site. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Statin prescription | within 3 months of outreach | Secondary outcome is prescription of a statin as assessed by automated electronic queries of electronic health record. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed