Objectives:
EuroAction is a European Society of Cardiology cluster randomised controlled trial of a nurse-led preventive cardiology programme in general practice in six European countries (Denmark, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK). It is a comprehensive multifactorial one-year programme aiming to manage individuals at high cardiovascular risk and their partners to the European lifestyle, risk factor and therapeutic targets for cardiovascular prevention.
Methods:
In each country, one pair of matched practices was randomised to receive the EuroAction programme or usual care. High risk individuals >= 50 years with no history of CVD were identified in 3 groups: (I) At high multifactorial risk (HeartScore >= 5% over 10 years); (II) treated hypertension/dyslipidaemia; and (III) diabetes.
Results:
943 (87%) high risk individuals and 233 (74%) partners were recruited to the programme. The characteristics of patients and partners are given in the table.
Conclusions:
The EuroAction teams in this family based preventive cardiology programme in primary care face a considerable challenge in helping families to make healthy changes to their smoking habits, diets and physical activity levels, and to achieve blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose targets in order to reduce their risk of future cardiovascular disease.