Objective: To investigate the usability of laboratory test report from the angle of patients and understand to what degree the patients master the knowledge of lipid-lowering.
Methods: A total of 508 outpatients, selected from a Grade III-A general hospital, were queried by a questionnaire, their medical records and test reports were reviewed and their heights and weights were measured. In the study, 431 of them fulfilled the inclusion criteria and their information about lipid lowering treatment and treatment compliance were collected.
Results: Of the 508 subjects, 90.2% (458/508) read the report seriously; however, only 47.4% (240/508) took drugs according to the doctor's prescription even if the tests were "normal". Of the 431 lipid-lowering therapy related patients, only 26.4% (112/431) chose right in their cardiovascular risk classification, and less than 37.1% (160/431) agreed that "different people had different lipid lowering target". Of the 381 patients who needed the lipid-lowering treatment, 71.7% (273/381) recognized the need for treatment, but 98.7% (376/381) answered a wrong target for treatment; 60.9% (232/381) recognized that the reference values given in the laboratory test reports should be the target for treatment. Of the 246 patients under the lipid-lowering treatment, 35.4% (87/246)had reached their treatment goals, and only 52.0% (128/246) had a good compliance.
Conclusion: Most patients read and trusted the laboratory test reports. However, dyslipidemia patients scarcely knew their lipid lowering treatment goals and their cardiovascular risk levels. The compliance of patients was poor, and the goal attainment was low. The laboratory medicine department should find out a simple and intuitional way to change the current situation.