Revised guidelines for cardiovascular risk management — time to stop medication? A practice-based intervention study

BACKGROUND: According to the new Dutch guideline for cardiovascular risk management, patients with a low risk of cardiovascular mortality may have insufficient benefit to warrant medication. Therefore, numerous patients per general practice may be treated unnecessarily. AIM: To explore the feasibility and consequences of a re-evaluation programme for patients without target organ damage who were treated for hypertension and/or hypercholesterolaemia. DESIGN AND SETTING: Practice-based intervention study in six general practices. METHOD: Patients treated for hypertension and/or hypercholesterolaemia without target organ damage (n = 833) were invited to re-evaluate their cardiovascular risk and were advised whether or not to stop medication. Patients who discontinued medication were followed for 6 months. To determine indicators for successful stopping, logistic regression analyses were performed, and differences between practices were analysed. RESULTS: About two-thirds of the patients were re-evaluated and 61% of them had a low calculated risk, especially younger patients, females, and non-smokers. Of these, 42% were advised to stop medication, especially younger patients and non-smokers. Of those who discontinued medication, 40% had restarted within 6 months. After 6 months, 80 of the 833 patients (9.6%) had not restarted medication. There were no important side effects related to stopping medication. CONCLUSION: Over 50% of patients without target organ damage treated for hypertension and/or hypercholesterolaemia may have insufficient benefit to warrant medication. Younger patients, females, and non-smokers in particular are more likely to have an insufficient indication for medication. GPs' and nurse practitioners' views seem to play a role in advising to stop or to restart medication.