Baseline Characteristics of Patients
| Group | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Total (N=255) | Intervention (n=45) | Control (n=43) | P Value | Specialist (n=167) |
| BMI = body mass index; BP = blood pressure; CABG = coronary artery bypass grafting; CCS = Canadian Cardiovascular Society classification system of current angina pectoris symptoms; CHD = coronary heart disease; HDL=high-density lipoprotein; LDL=low-density lipoprotein; MI=myocardial infarction; PCI=percutaneous coronary intervention. | |||||
| Notes: Patient group reflects the group to which the patient’s treating physician was assigned. Specialist denotes the group of patients treated by a specialist in cardiology or internal medicine. | |||||
| a Triglyceride values in millimoles per liter were converted to milligrams per deciliter by multiplying by 88.57. Other cholesterol values were converted to milligrams per deciliter by multiplying by 38.67. | |||||
| b Based on 44 patients having data for these measures. | |||||
| c Based on 250 patients having data for this measure. | |||||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 60.1 (7.5) | 62.6 (6.1) | 62.3 (7.4) | .93 | 59.0 (7.6) |
| Women, No. (%) | 57 (22) | 8 (18) | 5 (12) | .55 | 44 (26) |
| Comorbidities, No. (%) | |||||
| Diabetes | 37 (15) | 5 (11) | 6 (14) | .76 | 26 (16) |
| Hypertension | 67 (26) | 16 (36) | 10 (23) | .25 | 41 (25) |
| Other | 71 (28) | 11 (24) | 12 (28) | .81 | 48 (29) |
| Current smoker, No. (%) | 61 (24) | 10 (23) | 9 (21) | .89 | 42 (25) |
| BMI, mean (SD), kg/m2 | 28.0 (4.2) | 28.1 (5.5) | 27.2 (3.4) | .34 | 28.1 (3.9) |
| BP, mean (SD), mm Hg | |||||
| Systolic | 139 (20) | 142 (19) | 139 (20) | .59 | 138 (21) |
| Diastolic | 84 (9) | 84 (10) | 85 (8) | .70 | 84 (9) |
| Lipid levels, mean (SD), mg/dLa | |||||
| Total cholesterol | 247 (43) | 244 (39) | 240 (43) | – | 247 (46) |
| Triglycerides | 186 (97) | 186 (106) | 186 (89) | – | 186 (97) |
| HDL cholesterol | 46 (12) | 46 (15) | 43 (12) | – | 46 (12) |
| LDL cholesterol | 162 (39) | 162 (31) | 159 (39) | – | 166 (39) |
| Medications, No. (%) | |||||
| Acetyl salicylic acid | 205 (80) | 38b (86) | 33 (77) | .28 | 134 (80) |
| β-blocker | 166 (65) | 25 (56) | 21 (49) | .50 | 119 (71) |
| Lipid-lowering drugs | 49 (19) | 6b (14) | 3 (7) | .48 | 40 (24) |
| Duration of CHD, mean (SD), y | 6.0 (5.6) | 5.6 (5.8) | 6.2 (5.9) | .62 | 6.0 (5.4) |
| History, No. (%) | |||||
| MI | 167 (65) | 29 (64) | 23 (53) | .39 | 115 (69) |
| CABG | 95 (37) | 12 (27) | 13 (30) | .81 | 70 (42) |
| PCI | 29 (11) | 2 (4) | 3 (7) | .67 | 24 (14) |
| CCS class, No. (%)c | |||||
| 0–1 | 147 (59) | 25 (60) | 29 (69) | .49 | 93 (56) |
| 2–4 | 103 (41) | 17 (40) | 13 (31) | 3 | 73 (44) |