Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is common in the general population, affecting many of adults above 40
years of age. It is a multi-factorial disease. Some risk factors; such as family history, gender, ethnicity and age cannot
be changed. Other risk factors are modifiable including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Patients
will not necessarily develop cardiovascular disease if they have a risk factor. But the more risk factors they have the
greater the likelihood that they will, unless protective measures and actions are taken to modify their risk factors and
work to prevent them compromising their heart health.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were: to evaluate the adherence of major primary health care centers to the
WHO-PEN Protocol 1, Package of essential noncommunicable (PEN) disease interventions for primary health care,
recommendations;and to provide more accurate estimate of cardiovascular risk using hypertension, type 2 diabetes
mellitus and tobacco use as entry points.
Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 200 patients who were already diagnosed with NCDs was conducted
atprimary health care centers. Data was collected retrospectively using a self-designed questionnaire based on the
WHO- PEN checklist. Patients’ files were selected randomly.
Results: Based on the analysis of whole cohort (200 cases). The prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 39% and hypertension
was 28.5%, whereas 32.5% had both. There were only 17 smokers among patients representing 8.5% of the sample.
Using WHO/ISH, WHO/International Society of Hypertension, Risk prediction charts; half of patients were in the tenyear cardiovascular risk category of less than 10%. On the other hand, 5% had a ten-year cardiovascular risk over
40%.49% of patients had a first-degree family history of heart disease? All patients were counseled on diet, exercise
and smoking cessation.
Conclusion: These results demonstrate high adherence to the WHO-PEN protocol in these two centers reflecting
a high quality of care and follow-up. Furthermore, the medical records were fully filled with adequate information
for each item. However, there were some deficiencies in the risk estimation, which should be documented for better
counseling for patients with high risk.
CHANGE OF CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN YOUNG HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS AS A RESULT OF PREVENTIVE CONSULTATION IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
