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(Circulation. 2006;113:178-179.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Evidence-Based Medicine: Making the Grade

Miles to Go Before We Sleep

Sidney C. Smith, Jr, MD

From the Center for Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Correspondence to Sidney Smith, MD, Director, Center for Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, UNC School of Medicine, CB 7075, Burnett-Womack Bldg, 99 Manning Dr, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7075. E-mail scs@med.unc.edu

Key Words: Editorials • cardiovascular diseases • prevention

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Rarely has cardiovascular medicine faced greater challenges. Rarely have our patients expected more of us. But never have we had such tools to make people well.... It is time to make good on that promise. ¹

During the past 2 decades, there have been major advances in medical therapies that can improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease. The Institute of Medicine in its 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm² observed major deficiencies in the health care provided for patients and emphasized the importance of applying evidence-based therapies to patient care. In this issue of Circulation, 2 studies provide important information about the use of these therapies among patients with hypertension and for those with known coronary heart disease. Their findings reveal increased use of medical therapies but suggest a need for broader emphasis on strategies that will improve patient adherence to prescribed therapies and focus on eliminating existing sociodemographic disparities.

Articles pp 203 and 213

The study by Gu et al³ compares National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988 to 1994) and NHANES 1999 to 2002 data to investigate trends in the use of antihypertensive medications among US adults with hypertension. Compared with NHANES III, the NHANES 1999 to 2002 hypertensive population had higher body mass index values and higher prevalence of diabetes but lower prevalence of chronic kidney disease. During the period studied, a favorable increase in the use of antihypertensive medications occurred, with 62.9% of patients receiving prescribed therapies in 1999 to 2002 compared with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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