Physicians play a key role in providing both curative and preventive healthcare. Counseling may be an effective tool in reducing behavioral risk factors for CVD. Yet, physicians do not counsel their patients aggressively about lifestyle changes to prevent CVD. As hypothesized, the reported frequency of preventive counseling in this study was low, especially for diet, [...]

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Physicians’ CVD Counseling Practices
Prevention counseling rates were significantly lower for exercise and diet than for smoking and medication compliance (Table 2). Only 16% and 20% of physicians reported that they “always” counseled about exercise and diet, respectively, whereas 88% and 52% reported counseling smoking cessation and medication adherence, respectively (p<0.0001). Attending physicians were significantly more [...]

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Study Setting
A survey was administered to Emory University Internal Medicine residents and attending physicians who worked in the medicine clinics at Grady Memorial Hospital, a 1,000-bed, inner-city, indigent care teaching hospital located in Atlanta, GA. The primary care outpatient medical clinics of Grady Memorial Hospital serve a primarily older (mean age 61), female (66%), African-American [...]

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INTRODUCTION
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide. According to CDC statistics, one in every four Americans suffers from the effects of heart disease and stroke. Heart disease and stroke account for nearly six million hospitalizations each year. Current figures indicate that CVD costs the United [...]

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