FPs Work With CDC, Others on Health Risk Assessment Tool

The AAFP National Research Network has begun recruiting family physicians for a study examining the use of a Web-based health risk assessment tool developed by the CDC. The project -- a collaboration between the research network and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, with funding from the CDC -- will examine how primary care clinicians and their healthy, middle-aged patients respond to using the health risk assessment tool and receiving CDC health risk assessment reports.

Family physician Louise Acheson, M.D, associate professor of family medicine and assistant professor of reproductive biology at Case Western Reserve University, will be principal investigator for the study.

The randomized trial is designed to compare participants' responses to standard prevention messages with their reactions to personalized risk information and prevention messages. Key questions the study will attempt to answer:

Each participating physician will recruit about 100 patients between the ages of 35 and 65 who have upcoming appointments. All patients eligible to participate (i.e., those who have not had cancer, coronary artery disease, stroke or diabetes but may have hypertension, obesity or other chronic conditions) will complete the computerized CDC health questionnaire before their scheduled visit.

Then, practices will be randomized so that all participating patients in a given practice will receive either the standard or personalized information at their scheduled visits. Physicians in the study will be blinded to which version their patients receive. Physicians will complete a brief exit questionnaire after each participating patient's visit.

Study personnel will contact participating patients six months later to update the health risk assessment, administer a follow-up questionnaire and present each patient with a personalized prevention report.

An added perk: The research network will give each participating practice a desktop or laptop computer to dedicate to data collection during the study. Once the study is completed, however, the computer belongs to the practice.