October 18, 2024
3 min learn
Key takeaways:
- Cardiology well being care professionals expressed hesitancy in prescribing FDA-approved weight problems drugs to scale back ASCVD threat.
- They most well-liked eating regimen and life-style, however didn’t present a lot tailor-made steering.
BOSTON — In a survey, cardiology physicians expressed hesitancy to prescribe at the moment obtainable weight problems drugs, preferring train and dietary interventions, however with little personalised tailoring for sufferers, researchers reported.
The outcomes of two surveys of sufferers with atherosclerotic CVD and weight problems, caregivers and cardiology well being care professionals have been introduced on the Cardiometabolic Well being Congress.
Cardiology well being care professionals expressed hesitancy in prescribing FDA-approved weight problems drugs to scale back ASCVD threat. Picture: Adobe Inventory
“All of us speak in regards to the hyperlink between unfavorable well being outcomes and weight problems. I’ve handled weight problems my complete life. As we begin lastly speaking about it within the skilled companies and figuring out weight problems as a illness, we will begin treating it,” Lyn Behnke, DNP, FNPBC, chair of WomenHeart in Washington, D.C. and adjunct scientific lecturer in nursing at College of Michigan-Flint, advised Healio. “After we talked to well being care professionals, CV well being care professions solely listed weight problems as No. 4 within the threat issue hierarchy. The issue is we do not perceive weight problems effectively sufficient to maneuver it up, and we have to transfer it up due to the inflammatory issues that weight problems causes … It might’t simply be major care physicians, it must be cardiology, endocrinology, it must be all people.”
Pam R. Taub
To higher perceive how weight problems and ASCVD is navigated inside the present well being care system, Behnke, Pam R. Taub, MD, founder and director of the Step Household Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Heart and professor of medication on the College of California, San Diego Well being System, and colleagues performed a two-part questionnaire.
Half 1 included interviews with 61 sufferers, 12 caregivers and 24 well being care professionals to know their respective insights into their experiences with ASCVD and weight problems and their results on dwelling life, funds, scientific apply and obstacles to therapy. Half 2 was administered to 120 cardiology well being care professionals to determine key efficiency indicators of ASCVD therapy and consider their respective method to therapy, each earlier than and after an ASCVD occasion.
Outcomes of survey half 1
All affected person respondents have been aged 45 or older and 38% have been Black, whereas 29% have been white, 20% have been Hispanic and 10% have been Asian. Every had no less than one ASCVD occasion and 66% have been recognized with weight problems.
Amongst well being care skilled respondents, 71% have been cardiologists, 21% have been nurses and eight% have been PCPs.
General, 70% of sufferers reported weight problems as the primary threat issue for CV well being, adopted by being bodily out of form, having a household historical past, poor eating regimen and age, however most reported a scarcity of communication with their well being care professionals in regards to the hyperlink between weight problems and CV well being.
Furthermore, affected person survey respondents reported solely receiving obscure recommendation relating to eating regimen and train and a scarcity of cultural consciousness of their respective therapy plans, in response to the research.
“We’re not likely listening to the racial well being fairness issue, and cultural components usually are not actually being thought of,” Behnke advised Healio. “For instance, when speaking a few nutritious diet. What does a nutritious diet appear like? What are the financial implications? We need to complain about the price of the drugs, however what about common groceries which are wholesome? A few of that began to come back out in our research and I feel it would proceed to come back out.”
Outcomes of survey half 2
Amongst half 2 respondents, 83% have been cardiologists, 15% have been cardiology nurses and a couple of% have been nurse practitioners.
Though cardiology respondents estimated that roughly 43% of their sufferers had weight problems, they ranked weight problems as solely the fourth-most necessary ASCVD threat issue, instantly preceded by blood sugar, LDL and BP.
The researchers reported that 53% of heart specialist respondents believed weight problems administration ought to be left to different well being care suppliers, and simply 12% reported recommending treatment for weight administration whereas 90% reported advising eating regimen and/or train modifications, however with restricted tailoring to their sufferers’ life-style.
Furthermore, 61% of cardiology well being care professionals reported treatment noncompliance as the first therapy barrier amongst sufferers with weight problems, in response to the research.
“One factor I did discover is that we didn’t have a great illustration of Native People. There is a very high-risk issue [burden] within the Native American inhabitants. Additionally having the time do the analysis for training and well being literacy. We could not actually measure that. We ran out of time, however these social determinants of well being are going to be important,” Behnke stated. “If we will simply coalesce the entire group, the first care individuals, the cardiologists and cardiac rehab, then I feel we will transfer the needle.”
Sources/Disclosures
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Taub P, et al. Poster 3. Introduced at: Cardiometabolic Well being Congress; Oct. 17-19, 2024; Boston.
Disclosures:
The research was sponsored by Novo Nordisk. Behnke stories consulting for Novo Nordisk. Taub stories consulting for Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Edwards Lifesciences, Esperion, Jazz, Medtronic, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi and founding and holding fairness in Epirium Bio.
