According to a new national survey released by the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), nearly one in three Americans at the highest risk for developing vascular diseases have not heard of any of the most common conditions, like peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and carotid artery disease. An SVS press release notes that this comes at a time when by 2030 more than 100 million people in the USA will be reaching an age associated with a high risk of vascular diseases, meaning more people than ever before may require care from a specialist yet a critical gap exists.
To address this gap, the SVS is launching a three-year patient education campaign, Highway to Health, to empower Americans to learn their SVS Strong Vessel Score and start a conversation with their doctor to see if a vascular surgeon could be a good addition to their overall care team.
“Surgery is only part of the story for vascular surgeons—a significant amount of the care we provide is dedicated to prevention, screening, and ongoing medication management of vascular diseases,” Matthew Eagleton (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA), SVS president, says in the press release. “We encourage the millions of people in the USA who are at the highest risk for vascular disease to talk with their doctor and ask if seeing a vascular surgeon is right for them.”
To increase awareness of vascular health and vascular disease prevention, SVS released the Highway to Health patient education toolkit which includes videos, checklists and interactive elements and can be found at YourVascularHealth.org.
“Maintaining vascular health at every age supports overall health, quality of life, and longevity, yet more than seven in 10 doctors haven’t talked to their patients over the age of 50 about their risk for vascular disease, or their Strong Vessel Score,” the press release details, sharing one of the findings of the SVS Consumer Survey.
The release continues: “The SVS Strong Vessel Score offers patients a way to share information with their doctor about risk factors and family history to help benchmark and start a conversation about their vascular health.”
William Shutze (Texas Vascular Associates, Plano, USA), SVS secretary, comments: “My guiding mission as a vascular surgeon is to improve the quality of life for my patients with the highest quality, expert care. You see vascular surgeons in lots of different settings from the ER trauma centre to helping patients prevent vascular disease at every age. We are on the front lines of treating patients with a wide array of vascular conditions, from prevention and screening to medical management and surgery—we are here to care of patients across the continuum.”
About the survey
The SVS fielded a survey among a general population that included 1,000 responses from a nationally representative sample over the age of 18 to gather insight into the awareness and perception of vascular disease and vascular health. The confidence level for the survey is 95% with a margin of error of ±3.1.
Key survey highlights
- Nearly one in three (29%) Americans have not heard of any of the most common vascular diseases, like PAD, carotid artery disease, or abdominal aortic aneurysm.
- More than one in three (36%) of current tobacco users and more than half (56%) of former tobacco users have never had their provider talk to them about their vascular disease risk.
- More than eight in 10 (85%) people are not familiar with the role of vascular surgeons.
- Less than half (46%) of people would opt to see a vascular surgeon for symptoms related to their blood vessels, such as leg swelling or pain or difficulty walking.
