[Care of high-risk subjects and cardiovascular patients in a family practice]

The aim of this investigation was to study, how high-risk subjects and cardiovascular (CV) patients are receiving care in a general medical (GP) practice. There are 1296 individuals belonging to this GP outpatient ward. Taking into consideration of available data, it was considered that because of high-risk level or some CV diseases, 883 subjects (68%) should have been taken care. The number of definitely cared subjects was 831 (94%), which means that just 6% of the whole group remained out of proper CV care activity. High risk subjects were as follows: 56.2% overweight, 26.0% obese, and 19.4% were active smokers. Every fourth of patients with angiological disease (24.2%) were actively smoking. The majority of high-risk subjects (83.5%) have had a physically inactive life. In the very high-risk group, just 31.5% of subjects, in the high-risk group 23.0% could reach the lipid target values, fixed by the III. Hungarian Consensus Conference. These target values were, however, achieved by 61.1% of patients treated because of arterial hypertension, and 64.6% of diabetics. According to these data, in this very GP practice two third of all individuals do need CV care. Majority of these subjects were properly drawn into this activity. At present, the possibilities of GP care are not enough for properly influencing lifestyle, shown by the high ratio of smokers, people with overweight and those who are living without regular physical exercise. In the same time, the ratio of optimal care of patients with diabetes and hypertension was significantly higher than those in the data published in the literature. The results of treating hyperlipidaemia were similar to other studies published in the medical literature.