The difference between population and primary care morbidity is affected by disease under investigation and patients' demographic characteristics. Therefore, in choosing the more cost-effective approach to collect data such evidence should be taken into account, and results should be interpreted with great caution.

OBJECTIVE—To evaluate whether an electronic reminder integrated into a routine computer system increases the use of antiplatelet drugs for diabetic patients among Italian general practitioners (GPs). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A randomized controlled trial was carried out among 300 GPs and their patients selected from the Health Search Database. Among these, 150 GPs (intervention group) received instructions to activate an electronic reminder plus a letter summarizing the beneficial effects of antiplatelet drugs in diabetic patients with at least one additional cardiovascular risk factor (“high risk”), whereas the other 150 GPs (control group) received only the letter. The electronic reminder, integrated into a standard software system for the management of the daily clinical practice, was displayed when every participating GP opened the medical record of diabetic patients aged ≥30 years. Only high-risk diabetic patients were included in the analysis. Patients were considered under antiplatelet treatment if they received two or more prescriptions at baseline and during the follow-up. RESULTS—We selected 15,343 high-risk diabetic patients, 7,313 belonging to GPs of the control group and 8,030 belonging to GPs of the intervention group. Overall, 1,672 patients (22.9%) of the control group and 1,886 (23.5%) patients of the intervention group received antiplatelet drugs at baseline (P = N.S.). At the end of the follow-up, the number of treated patients was significantly increased in the intervention group (odds ratio 1.99, 95% CI 1.79–2.22) versus the control group. The effect of the electronic reminder was more relevant among those patients with one or more cardiovascular risk factors but without previous cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), compared with those with CVDs. CONCLUSIONS—These findings provide evidence for the effect of an electronic reminder in affecting the prescriptive behavior of GPs.

In Italy, ADs-especially SSRIs-are widely prescribed by GPs because of depressive/anxiety disorders. Active monitoring of AD users in general practice might reduce the AD discontinuation rate.

Background-Hypertension control and antiplatelet or oral anticoagulant drugs are the basis for secondary prevention of cerebrovascular events. Family physicians (FPs) are usually involved in both aspects of prevention, but no research has been carried out in Italy to evaluate the behavior of FPs in this field of prevention. Conclusions-ItalianFPs could improve secondary prevention of cerebrovascular accidents. The primary target of intervention should be the control of systolic BP, and the group of patients with unacceptably high BP should be given priority. All of these patients should have been prescribed antiplatelet drugs or anticoagulant agents, except in cases of extremely short life expectancy or substantial contraindications.