Summaries of Independent Scientist (K) Awards

Crouch, Michael

Institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Grant Title: Effect of Informed Consent on Compliance: Statin Therapy
Grant Number:  K08 HS13332
Duration: 3 years (2003-2006)
Total Award: $118,750

Project Description: The project had two main goals:

1. Ascertain the utility of informed consent for increasing compliance with statin therapy (compared to usual care).
2. Determine the effects of informed consent on patients' apprehension about experiencing adverse side effects from statin therapy at moderate or high-risk for acute myocardial infarction.

A subsample with a 10-percent subsample will use individual interviewing, review of audiotapes of the initial study visit with the patient's primary care provider, and qualitative data analysis techniques to probe patients' thoughts and feelings during the visit.

Career Goals: Dr. Crouch is a family physician, with over 20 years of experience in academic family medicine.  His first career goal was to complete the on-going shift in his professional identity from clinician-educator to researcher-clinician-educator and make research his primary focus.  His long-term research clinical interests include cholesterol and heart disease prevention, patient education for chronic illness, and medical ethics. 

Progress to Date: This K award was completed in 2006.  Unanticipated recruitment problems severely limited participation in the study.  Results suggest that statin therapy informed choice may raise initial apprehension about statin side effects in two patient types:

1. Those who initially decided against statin therapy, but then later chose to take a statin and were still taking it at one year.
2. Those who would have been likely to stop statin therapy had they been in the usual care group and started taking it without receiving details about side effects.

Highlights and Specific Accomplishments:

• Principal Investigator (PI) for Stage 2 of the Primary Care Multiethnic Network (PRIME Net) Research Project that began in July 2006.
• Developed a coronary heart disease (CHD) risk estimator in Excel® spreadsheet that is linked to a risk estimate communication sheet with graphic risk display.

K-Generated Publications:

Crouch MA. Improving practice for lipid disorders. Drugs in Context 2005. 1(1):35-53.

Crouch MA, Gramlin R. Family history of coronary heart disease: Evidence-based applications. Primary Care 2005. 32:995-1010.

Crouch MA, Whitney S, Volk R. Decision making implications. (Commentary) Annals of Family Medicine 2004 Dec 3.

Crouch MA. Hypercholesterolemia. In Rakel RE (Ed), Essentials of family medicine. 3^rd Ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 2006, pp 324-40.

Crouch MA. Dyslipidemias. In Mengel M, Schwiebert LP (Ed), Ambulatory medicine—The primary care of families. 4^th Ed., NY: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

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