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Impact of a heart disease risk factor screening survey on an upper-middle class community

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Abstract

The impact of a community-based heart disease risk factor screening program was evaluated after three years. The study population was predominantly white, older, and upper-middle class. Rescreening of the 211 study subjects showed improvements in both health-related behaviors and in risk factor distributions to a degree which would be expected to reduce the risk of heart disease. Although some changes were attributable to secular trends and regression to the mean, direct impact of the survey itself was also demonstrated.

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Authors
  1. Melissa A. Austin M.S.
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  2. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor M.D.
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  3. Michael H. Criqui M.D., M.P.H.
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Additional information

Ms. Austin is Senior Statistician for the Lipid Research Clinic, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093. Dr. Barrett-Connor is Professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, San Diego, and Dr. Criqui is Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, San Diego.

This research was supported by the Lipid Research Clinics, National Institutes of Health, Contract Number NIH-NHLBI-HV-1-2160-L.

The authors would like to thank Mark Holdbrook for his helpful comments and Jan Keeney for her assistance in preparing the manuscript.

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Austin, M.A., Barrett-Connor, E. & Criqui, M.H. Impact of a heart disease risk factor screening survey on an upper-middle class community. J Community Health 8, 42–49 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01324396

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