Time to initiation of lipid-lowering drugs for subclinical atherosclerosis: sub-study of VIPVIZA randomized controlled trial, with single-arm cross-over

AIMS: Visual information about subclinical atherosclerosis was provided to physicians and participants in the VIPVIZA trial, inclusion 2013–16 in northern Sweden, aiming to improve adherence to cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention guidelines. Pictorial risk information may be more actionable. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intervention with pictorial risk information on time to first dispensing of statins. METHODS AND RESULTS: Asymptomatic atherosclerotic disease was screened for by carotid ultrasound examination in 3532 participants enrolled in VIPVIZA, of those 3000 met the criteria for this study. Participants were randomly assigned to receive pictorial risk information consisting of graphical representation of atherosclerosis as compared to a control group without intervention. Time to initiation of statins was assessed during 5 years of follow-up through the National prescribed drug register. After 3 years, both groups were re-examined and received the intervention information. In the intervention group, initiation of statins increased considerably for the first 3 years and a smaller increase was also seen after re-intervention. After the cross-over, the control group showed a sharp increase in initiation of statins, almost reaching the same proportion treated at 5 years. The propensity to initiate statin treatment increased over the study period and there was no difference between men and women. CONCLUSIONS: The pictorial information had an effect on time to initiation of statins, both as original and repeated intervention and also in the control group after single-arm cross-over. The current study supports pictorial information as a tool to shorten time to initiation of statins for CVD prevention. The VIPVIZA study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01849575.