Introduction: General practitioners have an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular disorders, and it is a precondition for motivating patients to preventive issues that doctors are aware of the prevalent risk factors. The aim of the study was to analyse agreement between patients' and general practitioners' (GPs) perception of risk factors and overall risk of ischemic heart diseases (IHD).
Material and methods: The data consisted of records from an audit in May 1999. The GPs (n = 26) registered all enquiries from patients with IHD (n = 252) and a sample of healthy individuals (n = 1239). Both doctors and patients were asked to register the occurrence of cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, weight, stress, family history) and they were asked to evaluate the state of health and to estimate the overall risk of IHD. The agreement was evaluated by Kappa statistics.
Results: The level of agreement between GPs and patients varied from 70 to 97 per cent. Disagreement was observed most often for patients with IHD and patients listed with elderly GPs. (> 50 years). Disagreement was predominantly caused by a lower detection rate of the risk factors by the GPs. The patients' perception of overall risk of IHD was badly correlated to doctors' perception. Generally, patients perceived the overall risk of IHD lower than their doctors, and in more than half of the patients with a perception of low risk the GP estimated the risk as high.
Discussion: Patients and GPs have different perceptions of the risk of IHD. This may be due to the fact that GPs do not have all the information about their patients' lifestyle. It may also be due to different perception of the importance of specific risk factors and different reference frames for risk perception. GPs have an important role in communicating cardio-preventive issues and the meaning of risk factors. Interventions should be considered to improve risk communication in general practice.