T Krones

Dr T Krones, Klinikum der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany; krones@med.uni-marburg.de

STUDY DESIGN

Design:

cluster randomised controlled trial.

Allocation:

{concealed}*.†

Blinding:

blinded (patients).†

STUDY QUESTION

Setting:

14 continuing medical education (CME) groups in Hessen, Germany. CME groups were excluded if several members were already familiar with the ARRIBA-Herz decision aid or used another cardiovascular risk calculator.

Patients:

1132 adult patients (mean age 59 y, 56% women) who had serum cholesterol concentrations measured during a 4-week period, regardless of cardiovascular disease (CVD) history.

Intervention:

two 2-hour CME sessions involving either training in the use of the ARRIBA-Herz decision aid (7 CME groups, 80 physicians, and 550 patients), or seminars on topics other than CVD prevention (7 CME groups, 82 physicians, and 582 patients). Use of the decision aid involved 6 steps: agree on the tasks of evaluating the patient’s risk of …