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Prevalence of cardiovascular disorders among the elderly in primary care in Estonia
Kai Saks1, Helgi Kolk, Annely Soots
1Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. kai.saks@kliinikum.ee
Objective:
To assess the prevalence of diagnoses of cardiovascular disorders among the elderly in family practice.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Setting:
Estonia, population aged 65 years or older (206,915 persons).
Subjects:
811 elderly persons selected randomly from the lists of family practitioners.
Main Outcome Measures:
Prevalence of hypertension, hypotension, coronary heart disease (CHD), myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF) and cardiac arrhythmias; differences between the genders and age groups.
Results:
The prevalence of cardiovascular disorders was as follows: hypertension 63.2%, hypotension 11.1%, CHD 56.5%, MI 9.8%, HF 41.4% and arrhythmias 37.5%. Women had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension and men of MI. The prevalence of CHD and hypotension was significantly higher in the oldest elderly persons.
Conclusion:
Among the older population in Estonia, cardiovascular disorders that have broader diagnostic criteria and need expensive methods for verifying (CHD, HF) have a high prevalence and are most likely over-diagnosed. The need for strict and simple diagnostic methods for these disorders in primary care practice continues to be serious.
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