Secondary prevention in 24 431 patients with coronary heart disease: survey in primary care

Prevention of further cardiovascular events in patients with established coronary heart disease is a priority for public health. 1 Previous studies have addressed such issues and have showed that there is considerable room for improvement. 2-4 The Healthwise survey was conducted in primary care throughout Britain to identify the prevalence of recorded coronary disease and to examine whether progress had been made in secondary preventive measures. Smoking, blood pressure, recording of cholesterol concentrations, and the specific use of the four lifesaving classes of cardiac drugs-aspirin, blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, and statins-were studied. (Other lifestyle issues, such as dietary assessment and exercise, were variably noted in practice records and are not shown.)