Treatment and lifestyle change recommendations by cardiologist for patients attending cardiology outpatient clinics: a TLC study

Introduction:
Just as it is important to recommend lifestyle changes such as exercise, diet and smoking cessation to patients in the low-medium-risk group for protection from cardiovascular diseases, it is also important to identify patients in the high-risk group and reduce cardiovascular risk with lifestyle changes and, when necessary, pharmacological treatment.

Aim:
This study evaluated the treatment and lifestyle change recommendations given by cardiologists to patients.

Material and methods:
Our study was shared with cardiologists via e-mail from January 2024 to February 2024, and the surveys were answered online. Our questionnaire, consisting of 30 questions, covers topics related to cardiovascular protection, diet, nutritional habits, lifestyle, and diagnosis and treatment strategies of coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmia, and dyslipidemia.

Results:
Of the 104 participants included in the analysis, 37 (35.58%) were female, and 67 (64.42%) were male. The proportion of participants who recommended regular exercise to all of their patients was low at 25 (24.04%). It was determined that 60 (57.69%) participants were recommended to use aspirin in primary prevention in patients with moderate-severe cardiovascular risk. Achieving the target LDL value remains at a very low rate (2.88%).

Conclusions:
The rate of recommending lifestyle changes, diet and exercise to patients in cardiology outpatient clinics is very low. SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI) have become highly regarded drugs in heart failure patients. The rate of achieving the target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol value in patients admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinic remains very low.