A Ten-year Risk Assessment Study of Cardiovascular Events Among Adults Visiting a Tertiary Care Institution in Northern India

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, including Myocardial Infarction (MI) and stroke. Risk factors included are both modifiable and non modifiable, like age, sex, blood pressure, smoking status, total blood cholesterol and presence or absence of diabetes mellitus. In the above background it is important to find out the risk of CVDs among patients visiting Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC) of a tertiary care institute. Early detection of risk probability will alert them to modify the involved risk factors to avert the CVDs. Aim: To find out the risk of CVDs among adult patients in a duration of ten years, who visited the Outpatient Department (OPD) of UHTC, using World Health Organisation/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) risk prediction Chart. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Community Medicine, of a tertiary care institution in Northern India, from August 2017 to January 2018. A total of 400 subjects were enrolled. Data were collected using the WHO/ISH ten years risk prediction chart. Chi-square test was applied and level of significance were obtained at p-value <0.05. Results: Majority (58.75%) of the population belonged to the young adult age group (30-50 years). There were 216 males and 184 females. Overall, 7.75% people were diabetic, and 11.25% were smokers. Majority (69.5%) of the people had less than 10% risk for CVD, and 5.75% people had ≥40% risk. With respect to total serum cholesterol, 9% had high level of cholesterol. Statistically significant association was observed between Socio-economic Status (SES) (modified Kuppuswami scale) and cardiovascular event (p<0.001). Middle income group were more at risk compared to others (p<0.001). Conclusion: Middle income group people and young age group had more risk of developing CVDs in future, compared to low- income group and other age groups. So, an early intervention in the lifestyle may avoid CVDs. Also, this study gives way for further research on the weightage of the individual risk factors for CVDs.