[Cardiovascular risk among patients of general practices, who are not in current acute care]

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the first in the Hungarian mortality statistics. Numerous factors are known that may be involved as risk factors in the development of these diseases, and the risk is multiplied when they occur simultaneously. The recommendations of the European and Hungarian professional societies regard the early exploration of these risk factors and the estimation of cardiovascular risk as extremely important, since the intervention to be introduced depends on the extent of the risk.

Methods: The study was aimed to assess, by using a professionally accepted risk estimation method, the extent of cardiovascular risk in the adult population aged between 18 and 60 years and previously not treated for cardiovascular risk(s) or diseases. 48 family doctors' practices of four counties participated in the study; a total of 1320 individuals were enrolled. During the study targeted recording of medical history, physical examination and the determination of certain parameters of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were performed. Afterwards the participants' cardiovascular risk was calculated for 10 years, based on the parameters obtained (age, sex, smoking habits, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol level, status of carbohydrate metabolism).

Results: Frequency of high and very high cardiovascular risk was 12.44% in the population (22.59% in men and 4.89% in women, 17.72% in middle-aged and 0.75% in younger patients). Distribution of cardiovascular risk levels was less favourable in men than in woman (p < 0.001), and in middle-aged patients than in younger ones (p < 0.001). The distributions of each risk factors were similar: significant differences were demonstrated in smoking habit, systolic blood pressure and plasma cholesterol between men and women as well as between middle and younger aged patients, however significant difference in alterations of carbohydrate metabolism was found just between middle- and younger aged groups.

Conclusions: Cardiovascular risk is reasonably high in adult population previously not treated with cardiovascular risks or disease. Distribution of risk levels is less favourable in men than in women, and middle-aged patients compared to younger aged patients. These results show that there is a need for the increase of the frequency of patients' preventive visits to physicians, since this can allow the identification of risk factors as early as possible, the recognition of increased cardiovascular risk and the use of the necessary and adequate intervention.