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Objective: Over recent decades, the death rate due to cardiovascular diseases has shown a downward trend in developed countries, as has also been the case in Spain. However, are still the leading cause of death. This study is aimed at studying the relationship between cardiovascular diseases and different modifiable cardiovascular risk factors related to their clustering., Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at an urban healthcare center, which included 2248 individuals ages 15 and above selected by simple random sampling of the medical record files. The risk of having some cardiovascular disease (ischemic cardiopathy, cerebrovascular disease or peripheral arteriopathy of lower limbs) was calculated in the form of an odds ration (OR) in relation to the clustering of the risk factors of smoking, high blood pressure,hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and diabetes mellitus,adjusted by age, sex and risk factors., Results: The individuals studied had 224 cardiovascular diseases.For smoking, the OR as an isolated risk factor was 1.5 (95% CI:1.0-2.2) and 1.6 (95% CI: 0.9-2.5) with the clustering with the other four risk factors; with high blood pressure, respectively of 2.1 (95% CI: 1.5-2.9) and 1.7 (95% CI: 1.1-2.6); with hypercholesterolemia, respectively of 1.7 (95% CI: 1.2-2.4) and 1.6 (95% CI: 1.1-2.4); and with hypertriglyceridemia, respectively of 1.8(95% CI: 1.2-2.8) and 1.3 (95% CI: 0.8-2.1). The OR's showed a similar behavior on layering by each cardiovascular disease, although the highest OR's (2.4 - 3.1 range) corresponded to the clustering of diabetes mellitus and smoking., Conclusions: The risk of having cardiovascular diseasesremains high with the clustering of cardiovascular risk factors,although differences among them are found to exist.

Introduction and Objectives: To study the prevalence of and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in primary care., Patients and Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out at an urban health center in Barcelona, Spain. In total, 2248 patients > or =15 years old were selected randomly from medical records. The study investigated cardiovascular diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease, and cardiovascular risk factors such as age, sex, smoking, high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and diabetes mellitus., Results: The patients' mean age was 49.1 (18.9) years and 53.5% were male. Cardiovascular risk factor prevalences were: smoking, 35.2%; high blood pressure, 33.7%; hypercholesterolemia, 21.9%; hypertriglyceridemia,12.7%; and diabetes mellitus, 15.8%. Overall, 57.9% of patients had at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor. Significantly more males presented with each risk factor (P<.05), apart from high blood pressure. The prevalence of all risk factors, except smoking, increased with age until 74 years and then stabilized, except high blood pressure, which continued to increase. Around 10% had cardiovascular disease, with myocardial ischemia in 5.5%, cerebrovascular disease in 3.7%, and peripheral arterial disease in 2.4%. All except cerebrovascular disease were significantly more common in males (P<.05). The prevalence of cardiovascular disease was low in individuals <55 years old, particularly women, and increased with age for all forms of disease. Some 68.3% were > or =65 years old., Conclusions: The high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was confirmed. Cardiovascular disease was more common in males and the elderly.

Objective: To study whether the visits of technical health representatives (ITS) mean that new drugs are introduced. Design. Prospective, descriptive study., Setting: Urban health centre., Participants: The products presented by 137 ITS from 83 drug laboratories in weekly sessions for a year were studied., Main Measurements: The products presented, the year they were first marketed, intrinsic value (IV), newness and use potential, cost per package and defined daily dose and material handed over were studied., Results: 472 drug products were introduced. The most common ones belonged to the cardiovascular group (27.3%), digestion and metabolism (14.8%) and anti-infection drugs (13.3%). 65.5% had been on the market for <5 years. 84.3% had a high IV. Only 31 products (6.6%) were new (95% CI, 4.5-9.2). 71% of these supposed no or very slight therapeutic improvement, 25.8% a modest improvement and 3.2% a major improvement. Mean cost was 19.3 euros per package and 2 euros per DDD, with significant differences found (P<.006) on stratifying by date of marketing (more recently marketed products cost more). 61% of the products were presented with additional material (leaflets, monographs, journals), 21.6% with gifts of symbolic value, and 19.9% with samples of the product. There were significant differences (P<.03) between the new drugs and the normal prescriptions issued at the centre. In the new drugs, there were fewer products with high IV and cost per package and per DDD was higher., Conclusions: The products introduced by the reps do not include any important new drugs. They are presented with abundant back-up and are more expensive than those normally prescribed.

Objective: To study the cardiovascular events linked to the new diagnostic categories of diabetes mellitus proposed by the American Diabetes Association., Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting. Urban health district.Participants. 2248 patients > 14, selected by simple random sampling from the medical records archive., Main Measurements: Through the medical records review, patients were classified into those with normal glucaemia, those intolerant to glucose when fasting (IGF) and those with type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). Patients were studied for cardiovascular events, ischaemic cardiopathy, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral arteriopathy. The likelihood of such events in patients with IGF and DM2 was compared with normal-glucose patients through logistical regression, adjustment for age, gender, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia and tobacco dependency., Results: 1677 patients were classified: 1237 with normal glucaemia, 175 with IGF and 265 with DM2. The DM2 patients were more likely to have at least one cardiovascular event (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.7-4.4), ischaemic cardiopathy (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.1-3.6), cerebrovascular disease (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.4-6.6) or peripheral arteriopathy (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2-7.7). Results reached no statistical significance in patients with IGF, though these were more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.6-2.1), ischaemic cardiopathy (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.3-4.4), cerebrovascular disease (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 0.5-4.1) or peripheral arteriopathy (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.3-4.6)., Conclusions: Patients with DM2 are more likely to present cardiovascular events, a phenomenon not seen in the case of IGF.