title: Knowledge of cholesterol levels and targets in patients with coronary artery disease.
abstract: Little is known about the extent to which patients are aware of nationally-recommended cholesterol and lipid subfraction targets. The authors interviewed 738 patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease to assess their knowledge of their low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol levels as well as corresponding national targets. Only 8%, 8%, and 43% of patients could recall their low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol values, respectively. Only 5%, 2%, and 50% could correctly name targets for these values. Knowledge of cholesterol targets was particularly poor among women, nonwhites, and patients without any college education. Patients with multiple cardiac risk factors and patients with a previous history of cardiovascular disease were no more knowledgeable about their cholesterol targets than those without these conditions. These findings suggest that current cholesterol education efforts appear inadequate, particularly for women, nonwhites, and patients without any college education.
authors.affiliation: Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, Room I-456 SHM (P.O. Box 208088), New Haven, CT 06520-8088, USA. harlan.krumholz@yale.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Judith H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lichtman
authors.forename: Joan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Amatruda
authors.forename: Grace L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mattera
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Roumanis
authors.forename: Harlan M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Krumholz
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol