Assessment of cardiovascular disease risk in adults

Aim: The aim of our study to determine cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and evaluate cardiovascular risk in adults. Method: This study was conducted as a cross-sectional study at Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, between November 2016 and May 2017. We administered the study on 155 voluntary participants aged 40-70, admitted to the family medicine polyclinic of Farabi Hospital. Socio-demographic and medical information was gathered via direct conversation. Participants' weight, height, waist circumference, and blood pressure were measured. In addition to this, their glucose and cholesterol values, which were examined at our hospital, were recorded. In the light of the all gathered data, CVD risks of the individuals were evaluated using the SCORE risk assessment system. Results: The average age of participants was 50,3±7,5 years. 20,6% (n = 32) of them were male and 79,4% (n = 123) were female. In terms of cardiovascular risk levels, 17,4% (n = 27) of the participants were at low risk, 47,7% (n = 74) at medium risk and 24,5% (n = 38) at high risk, 10,3% (n = 16) at very high risk. There was no statistically significant difference between the levels of cardiovascular risk according to gender (p>0,05). There was no statistically significant difference between participants' educational status, working status, place of residence, physical activity status, family history of premature CVD, and cardiovascular risk levels and scores (p>0,05). Conclusion: In our study, in terms of CVD we found that about half of the participants had moderate risk, and one third had a high or very high risk. These findings demonstrate that CVDs are an important health problem. It will be rational to identify risks and take necessary precautions with periodic health screenings using risk prediction systems such as SCORE to prevent these diseases. Key words: Cardiovascular disease, risk assessment, SCORE risk estimation system, hypertension, smoking, cholesterol, metabolic syndrome