Usefulness of a Structured Adult Education Program in Modifying Markers of Cardiovascular Risk After Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Patient involvement in therapeutic strategies leading to lifestyle changes and increasing adherence to beneficial treatment is important for high risk coronary artery disease patients. The hypothesis of the present substudy was that a program of education specifically structured to educate postmyocardial infarction patients would lead to measurable differences in specific indices of cardiovascular risk. Post-MI patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups. Patients in the intervention arm attended an 8-week long educational program in addition to usual treatment and controls received standard treatment. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, body-mass index, and glycosylated hemoglobin were assessed at baseline and at 12 months (values are reported as median [interquartile range]). One hundred ninety-eight consecutively randomized patients were included in the present substudy. The median change in Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was -54 (-45 to [-62]) mg/dl in the intervention group as compared with -35 (-28 to [-43]) mg/dl in controls (p <0.001). Systolic blood pressure change was -7.5 (-15.3 to 0.3) mm Hg and -3.0 (-11.8 to 2.8) mm Hg, respectively (p = 0.011). The median change in body-mass index was 0.0 (-3.0 to 3.0) kg/m2 as compared with 2.0 (-1.0 to 3.9) kg/m2, respectively (p = 0.002). The reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin was significant in both groups with a median absolute change of -0.29 (-1.11 to 0.09) % in the intervention group and -0.24 (-0.69 to 0.06) % in controls (p = 0.168). If only diabetic patients were considered, the change was -0.65 (-1.3 to [-0.23]) % in the intervention group versus -0.41 (-0.74 to [-0.07]) % in controls (p = 0.021). In conclusion, a relatively short patient education program may have long-lasting effects on established modifiable markers of cardiovascular risk.