[Information on cardiovascular risk in hypertense patients monitored in primary care. Does it improve our efficacy?].

OBJECTIVES

To analyse how information to patients on their cardiovascular risk affects the latter's subsequent evolution and to see whether there are differences in the evolution of risk as a function of its being high, moderate, or low.

DESIGN

Intervention study of patients who attended our scheduled hypertension clinics.

SETTING

Health centre on the periphery of Murcia, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS

Three hundred patients (139 men and 161 women) from 40 to 75 years old, with essential hypertension, treated or otherwise, controlled or otherwise, in the hypertension programme. They were divided into 3 groups of 100 patients: low, moderate, and high risk.

INTERVENTIONS

There were 2 attendances of each patient: a) initially, at which cardiovascular risk was calculated; half of each risk group were informed of their cardiovascular risk; b) finally, a year later, at which the cardiovascular risk of all the patients was calculated.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

Calculation of cardiovascular risk on the Framingham scale.

RESULTS

No significant differences were appreciated in low and moderate cardiovascular risk groups. In the high-risk group, the informed patients fell from an initial 23.6+/-2.5% to 20.1+/-2.6% after a year (P<.01); and in the non-informed group, from an initial 23.9+/-2.8% to a final 22.1+/-2.7% (P<.05). The difference in reduction of risk between informed and non-informed patients was significant (P<.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Informing our hypertense patients about their cardiovascular risk is linked to a reduction in this risk when it is high.