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A prospective study of risk factors for cardiovascular events among the elderly
Authors Cabrera M, de Andrade, Mesas
Received 21 August 2012
Accepted for publication 25 September 2012
Published 1 November 2012 Volume 2012:7 Pages 463—468
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S37211
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 4
Marcos Aparecido Sarria Cabrera,1 Selma Maffei de Andrade,2 Arthur Eumann Mesas2
1Discipline of Geriatrics, Postgraduate Program in Public Health, 2Department of Public Health, Postgraduate Program in Public Health, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
Objective: To analyze the impact of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors on the occurrence of fatal and non-fatal CV events in elderly individuals.
Methods: The present research was a prospective cohort study of 800 elderly Brazilian outpatients (60 to 85 years old) with a 12-year follow-up period (baseline: 1997–1998). The outcome variable was CV mortality or non-fatal CV events (stroke, infarction, angina, heart failure). Hypertension, diabetes, global and abdominal obesity, dyslipidemias, and metabolic syndrome were analyzed as independent variables. The analyses were based on Cox proportional hazard models and adjusted for gender, age range, smoking, regular physical activity, and previous cardiovascular disease.
Results: A total of 233 fatal and non-fatal CV events were observed (29.1%). In the adjusted analysis, the following variables were associated with CV risk: hypertension hazard ratio (HR): 1.69; confidence interval (CI) 95%: 1.28–2.24, diabetes (HR: 2.67; CI 95%: 1.98–3.61), metabolic syndrome (HR: 1.61; CI 95%:
1.24–2.09), abdominal obesity (HR: 1.36; CI 95%: 1.03–1.79), hypertriglyceridemia (HR: 1.67; CI 95%: 1.22–2.30) and high triglyceride/HDL-c ratio (HR: 1.73; CI 95%: 1.31–2.84). Hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia remained associated with CV risk regardless of abdominal obesity.
Conclusion: In this prospective study, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity, and hypertriglyceridemia were predictors of CV risk in elderly individuals. These results confirm the relevance of controlling these CV risk factors in this age group.
Keywords: aged, cardiovascular diseases, risk factors, epidemiology
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