Preventive Cardiology in Europe -- Gap Between Goals and Reality

Despite wide dissemination of national and international guidelines for preventing adverse events in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), inadequate adherence persists. The European Action on Secondary Prevention by Intervention to Reduce Events (EUROASPIRE) study groups compared survey and medical-records data from study I (1995-1996, 3569 patients) with those from study II (1999-2000, 3379 patients). All patients (maximum age, 70) had been admitted to hospitals in 9 countries (≥400 in each country) for a first coronary revascularization (bypass grafting or balloon angioplasty) or for first or recurrent acute MI or ischemia. Interviews were conducted at least 6 months after admission.

From study I to study II, there was a nonsignific…