There were 355 peripheral arterial disease participants with baseline LDL cholesterol ≥70 mg/dL enrolled. The primary outcome was change in LDL cholesterol level at 12-month follow-up. There were 3 parallel arms: telephone counseling intervention, attention control condition, and usual care. The intervention consisted of patient-centered counseling, delivered every 6 weeks, encouraging participants to request increases in cholesterol-lowering therapy from their physician. The attention control condition consisted of telephone calls every 6 weeks providing information only. The usual care condition participated in baseline and follow-up testing.
At 12-month follow-up, participants in the intervention improved their LDL cholesterol level, compared with those in attention control (−18.4 mg/dL vs −6.8 mg/dL, P = .010) but not compared with those in usual care (−18.4 mg/dL vs −11.1 mg/dL, P = .208). Intervention participants were more likely to start a cholesterol-lowering medication or increase their cholesterol-lowering medication dose than those in the attention control (54 % vs 18 % , P = .001) and usual care (54 % vs 31 % , P <.001) conditions.
Telephone counseling that helped peripheral arterial disease patients request more intensive cholesterol-lowering therapy from their physician achieved greater LDL cholesterol decreases than an attention control arm that provided health information alone. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.