Cardiovascular Risk Estimates in Ten Years in the Brazilian Population, a Population-Based Study

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, resulting in high health costs and significant economic losses. The Framingham score has been widely used to stratify the cardiovascular risk of the individuals, identifying those at higher risk for the implementation of prevention measures directed to this group.

Objective: To estimate cardiovascular risk at 10 years in the adult Brazilian population.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using laboratory data from a subsample of the National Health Survey. To calculate cardiovascular risk, the Framingham score stratified by sex was used.

Results: Most women (58.4%) had low cardiovascular risk, 32.9% had medium risk and 8.7% had high risk. Among men, 36.5% had low cardiovascular risk, 41.9% had medium risk and 21.6% had high risk. The risk increased with age and was high in the low-educated population. The proportion of the components of the Framingham model, by risk and sex, shows that, among women at high risk, the indicators that mostly contributed to cardiovascular risk were: systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, diabetes and tobacco. Among men, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, tobacco and diabetes.

Conclusion: The study estimates, for the first time in Brazil, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in ten years. The risk score is useful to support the prevention practices of these diseases, considering the clinical and epidemiological context.

Figura 1. Distribuição proporcional dos componentes do modelo de Framingham por grupos de risco alto, médio, baixo, respectivamente, por sexo, PNS, 2013.

Figure 1. Proportional distribution of the components of the Framingham model by high, intermediate, and low-risk groups, respectively, by sex, NHS 2013.