Office-Based Cholesterol Testing: Impact on Process-of-Care in Patients with Hypercholesterolemia a Pilot Study

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether providing cholesterol results during a patient-physician office encounter would affect the process-of-care in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Methods: We used a randomized, parallel-group, control design to conduct the study. Thirty-five participants had a lipoprotein analysis performed using the L.D.X. cholesterol analyzer. Patients randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 19) had their results provided to the physician during the office visit; the results of those in the control group (n = 16) were not made available to the physician. Each participant's medical record was reviewed to determine the physican's process-of-care with respect to cholesterol management. The indicators of the process-of-care for which we sought documentation included therapeutic interventions and the physician's assessment of risk for coronary heart disease. We used Fisher's exact test to determine statistical significance of the intervention. Descriptive analysis was also performed. Results: We were unable to detect a statistically significant difference in therapeutic interventions (p = 0.183). However, we did observe a statistically significant difference in the physician's assessment of risk for coronary heart disease (p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Our data suggest that providing a cholesterol test result during a patient-physician office encounter positively affects the process-of-care in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Future studies should include larger numbers of patients and longer follow-up periods.