Younger doctors are more likely to prescribe drugs than promote healthy lifestyle choices
Patients who are at risk for cardiovascular health problems often buy Lipitor and other established medications to decrease the likelihood of experiencing a stroke or heart attack.
Patients who are at risk for cardiovascular health problems often buy Lipitor and other established medications to decrease the likelihood of experiencing a stroke or heart attack. According to a paper published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, younger doctors are much more likely to prescribe heart medications, compared to their older counterparts.
Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at Sapienza University in Rome evaluated 1,078 family doctors, cardiologists and diabetologists. They found that while younger clinicians tend to prescribe drugs to treat or prevent cardiovascular conditions, more experienced physicians are more likely to recommend lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise.
"Although younger doctors prescribed more drugs, this did not result in significantly better control of their patients' major cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting that other factors have an important role to play in the clinical management of cardiovascular risk, including lifestyle changes," said cardiologist Massimo Volpe.
The researchers observed that high blood pressure appeared to be the most common cardiovascular risk factor, affecting an estimated 75 percent of patients in the study.
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