title: Do general practitioner and patient agree about the risk factors for ischaemic heart disease?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse agreement between patients' and GPs' perceptions of risk factors and overall risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study based on paired information from patients and GPs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six GPs in the County of Ringkøbing, Denmark, participating in a medical audit during 3 weeks in May 1999.
  
  
  METHODS
  252 patients with IHD and 1239 without IHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  GPs and patients were asked about specific risk factors for IHD and their perception of overall risk. Their agreement was evaluated by Kappa statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Agreement between GPs and patients varied from 70% to 97%. Disagreement was observed most often for patients with IHD and patients listed with elderly GPs ( > 50 years). Generally, patients perceived the overall risk of IHD lower than their doctors, and for most patients with a perception of low risk the GP estimated the risk as high.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients and GPs have different perceptions of the risk of [HD. This may be due to different perceptions of the importance of specific risk factors and different reference frames for risk perception. GPs have an important role in communicating the meaning of risk factors and interventions should be considered to improve risk communication in general practice.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark, Odense. lbjerrum@health.sdu.dk
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bjerrum
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Toft
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munck
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kragstrup
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications