ABSTRACT
Objective
To evaluate metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk for hypertensive elderly patients treated in primary care.
Methods
A cross-sectional study carried out with 154 hypertensive elderly from a Basic Health Unit in the Federal District. A structured instrument investigated the profile of the elderly. For classifying the metabolic syndrome, the criteria proposed by the National Cholesterol Education Program - Treatment Panel for Adults III were considered. For cardiovascular risk analysis, the Framingham risk score was used. Statistical and inferential analysis was performed using ANOVA, chi-square test and Fisher's exact test, in addition to Odds Ratio and its 95% confidence interval to estimate cardiovascular risk among the groups.
Results
64.9% of the hypertensive elderly were obese. Metabolic syndrome was evidenced in 70.8%. It was noted that 27.2% had low, 46.8% moderate, and 26.0% high cardiovascular risk, and that being a woman and of advanced aged negatively influenced the risk. Older adults with metabolic syndrome showed 7.19 times more likelihood to have high cardiovascular risk.
Final considerations and implications for the practice
The hypertensive elderly patients had high metabolic syndrome prevalence, which significantly increased cardiovascular risk. This result allows for a better planning of nursing care by the nurses in primary health care.
Keywords:
Elderly; Hypertension; Metabolic Syndrome; Cardiovascular Diseases
Thumbnail
FRS: Framingham Risk Score; MS: Metabolic Syndrome.