Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death worldwide and a major contributor to reduced quality of life.

More than two-thirds of Australian adults are living with at least three CVD risk factors¹.

Data extracted from the MedicineInsight, a national primary care database suggests that uptake of CVD risk assessment may be suboptimal.

Less than 7% of eligible patients had their CVD risk recorded via in-built calculators, and only 17% had all the relevant risk factors recorded to enable absolute risk assessment – blood pressure, cholesterol, HbA1c and smoking status².

What’s in this webinar?

Duration: 45 mins
Year recorded: 2020

This webinar was presented at the 2020 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners GP20 conference.

In this webinar, our speakers discuss:

the evidence that supports absolute CVD risk assessment, and it’s practical application.
strategies that support systematic assessment and management of CVD risk at a practice level.
the Heart Health Check MBS item and how it can be leveraged to improve patient outcomes.
new and engaging ways to communicate CVD risk and empower patients to participate in shared decision making.

Webinar Panellists

The webinar was presented by Prof Mark Nelson, and facilitated by Dr Atef Asham and Natalie Raffoul.

Presenter: Prof Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson is Professor and Chair, Discipline of General Practice, School of Medicine and Senior Member Menzies Institute for Medical Research, where he is also medical director of the Blood Pressure Clinic, both at the University of Tasmania.  He is also an Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. His research interests focus on large-scale clinical trials in primary care, and he is a principal investigator on the ASPREE and STAREE trials. He also works in clinical general practice in Hobart.  

Facilitators:

Dr Atef Asham – GP and Chair of the RACGP Cardiology Specific Interest Group

Natalie Raffoul – National Risk Reduction Manager, Heart Foundation

References

[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). National Health Survey, 2017-18. Data customised 2018. 

[2] Raffoul, N. 2019. CVD risk assessment in Australian primary care. GP19 conference, October 2019, South Australia.