Assessment of ten-year risk of cardiovascular event using WHO/ISH risk prediction chart among adults in a tertiary care hospital in Puducherry, India

Abstract

Context: The changing trends have revealed that cardiovascular disease (CVD) has evolved as prime cause of mortality globally, and predicting this prior is of utmost interest in patient management. Objective: To assess the ten-year risk of fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event using World Health Organization/ International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) risk prediction chart among adults. Material and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 226 general medicine Outpatient Department (OPD) attendees of a tertiary care hospital. Their risk of encountering a major cardiovascular event such as myocardial infarction or stroke ten year later was assessed using the WHO/ISH risk prediction charts. Appropriate tests of significance were employed. Results: Among 226 study subjects, 174 (76.9%) at low risk, 36 (15.9%) at moderate risk and 16 (7.0%) were at high risk of developing major cardiovascular event in the next ten years. Risk factors such age above 50 years, male gender, presence of hypertension or diabetes and smoking were found to be significantly associated with increased risk of the predicted major cardiovascular event. Conclusions: WHO/ISH chart is a useful tool in identifying individuals at high-risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and could help in planning appropriate strategies to mitigate the estimated CVD burden in future.