Do you have hypertension? You visit your primary care office 10 times a year.
Aragonese with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, How diabetesAccording to a study by the University of Zaragoza (Unizar), people with hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia visit their primary care physician an average of 10 times a year and 7 times a year for nurse consultations. Except, two thirds need help from specialists in other specialties: nephrology, endocrinology and cardiology.
This is clear from an analysis carried out on data from 557,999 patients over 16 years of age with these cardiovascular risk factors in Aragon, integrated into the Cardiovascular Risk Factors for Health Services (CARhES) project.
The Research Group of Health Services of Aragon (GRISSA), led by Maria José Rabanache, professor Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zaragoza and researcher from the Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), developed this project, funded by the Medical Research Foundation (FIS), whose main investigators are Isabel Aguilar and Sara Malo.
In addition, the GRISSA group includes researchers from the University of Zaragoza and various services of the Aragonese Health Service and the Ministry of Health.
Since 2017, the CARhES project has been studying the evolution of all patients at cardiovascular risk in Aragon. thanks to information obtained from data from the Aragonese Health System. Thus, every time a patient comes into contact with the healthcare system, an information record is created.
All this information is integrated and can finally be used by researchers in a way that does not allow the identification of subjects, fulfilling all the requirements for this highly sensitive information.
The results of this study indicate that patients with risk factors risk of cardiovascular disease in Aragon They make extensive use of counseling and medication.
For their part, patients with diabetes are the highest users of health care services and have the highest likelihood of hospitalization and emergency department visits compared with patients with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. They also have the highest rates of medication consumption.
PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT
Regarding pharmacological treatment, every patient with high cholesterol received an average of 6.8 different procedures prescribed in one year, as a treatment for various health problems, while in patients with diabetes this figure was higher – 8.2. Eighty-eight percent of patients diagnosed with hypertension were prescribed blood pressure-lowering medications.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, lead to disability, reduce quality of life and This has a high economic effect.
The high incidence of its risk factors, as well as the aging population, seem to indicate that its frequency and the impact will continue for decades to comewith an increase in some more vulnerable populations.
Prevention of cardiovascular diseases, both at the population and individual levels, is a priority of modern healthcare systems.
Better control of factors that influence its occurrence, such as blood pressure, smoking or obesity, reduces the likelihood of the disease and therefore fewer cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or strokes, which will mean fewer hospital admissions. for these diseases.
RISK FACTORS
There are population groups with a higher frequency of risk factors and a greater likelihood of these pathologies. It should also be noted that, Despite the availability of clinical recommendations, There are significant differences in the way patients are cared for.
These differences or inequalities depend on the characteristics of the patients, the professionals involved, and the health care system.
The place where a person lives, his socioeconomic level, social and family environment, and his age or gender. can help identify population groups who use health care resources differently than others and may therefore achieve better or worse health outcomes.