Participants’ Representative Reactions to a Strategy for Communicating Cardiovascular Risk-Adjusted Age
| Concerns |
| You’ve got to look at other things that most people won’t look at. Is this clinical information, or is this statistical information? Have they actually ran these people through a series of physical tests to come up with these numbers? Or are they just drawing these numbers from medical records? |
| But you know, you’ve got to keep in mind that it may not be accurate. So you could be reading something on there. And when you walk in to see your physician, he can tell you something a little different. Something like that would make the person probably be concerned. So when he walks in there, now his blood pressure is up. I’m concerned about the numbers that this computer is going to show you which may not be accurate. It might give you a heart attack. You know. |
| I’m thinking that it’s kind of overwhelming. It’s intimidating for a man to come in who is 52 and find out he’s got a heart age of 79. I think it’s gonna be very upsetting. He’s gonna be really shaken. |
| Participant 1: It’s like he has one foot in the grave. |
| Participant 2: Because he’s 50 years old. And you’re saying his heart age is 72. You know? That’s … he’s almost done with life. |
| Participant 3: It is definitely scary. He needs to discuss the problem with his doctor immediately. |
| I think it’s going to be startling to a lot of people. A lot of people will say, yeah, I’m 52; I feel like I’m 60. But when people see figures on a computer that’s supposed to be accurate, they’re going to say I’m 52, and I’ve got a heart of a 72 year old man, I think they’re going to be in shock. Nobody wants to hear the truth. |
| Participant 1: So maybe you need a transition slide that says how can I improve this or what can I do. |
| Participant 2: So they don’t walk away quaking. |
| Benefits |
| That [cardiovascular risk-adjusted age strategy] is easy, I can understand that. Yeah, that spells everything out. You can go to the doctor a year later, and boom [see how the calculated age has changed]. |
| No, you ain’t gonna forget that [the age]. Those numbers [actual age and cardiovascular risk-adjusted age] are a hell of a lot easier than the first 3 you plugged in there, the HDL, whatever the heck that is. |
| I think the idea of [cardiovascular risk-adjusted age] made it personal. Because this is your age. It brought you into it. The other [probability estimate bar chart], I mean, that’s just another graph. It’s too statistical. |
| I think the point is to wake up. I don’t think anyone’s gonna pass out from seeing that [cardiovascular risk-adjusted age]. If something is wrong you need to change the way you’re living. |
| I think the average person looking at that [cardiovascular risk-adjusted age] is going to get depressed. And after they get depressed, they’re probably going to reevaluate their life. I mean that’s very revealing. |
| Your [cardiovascular risk-adjusted age] is telling you there’s something medically going on. And you need to make some more changes. |