Spain

University of Granada researchers have developed a  software tool that makes an accurate estimation of  the risk that a person has to suffer a heart disease. In  addition, this software tool allows the performance of  massive risk estimations, i.e. it helps to estimate the  risk that a specific population group has of suffering a  heart condition. The researchers employed a sample  including 3,000 patients.  

Understanding the risk for heart conditions by simultaneously  using different equations is a key factor  in heart disease prevention, which would reduce health  spending in the short-and long-term.  

According to the researchers, "during the last decade,  the approaches to cardiovascular disease prevention have  evolved from isolated interventions on modifiable risk factors  to an integral model of intervention strategies based  on previous risk quantification and stratification."  

One of the factors enabling this change is the increasing  availability of tools for the quantification and   stratification of the risk of suffering a cardiovascular  disease; these tools evaluate a set of individual  characteristics, the so-called risk factors. This is the  framework of the study conducted at the University  of Granada and recently published in the Journal of  Evaluation in Clinical Practice.  

In the field of epidemiologic studies aimed at predicting  cardiovascular risk, a set of mathematical  models was developed in previous studies in the USA.  The purpose of these models was to provide an estimation  of the risk of suffering a cardiovascular event  in the short term, i.e. 5-10 years, by assessing exposure  to risk factors. University of Granada researchers  used this model in their study.  

The researchers performed a comparative study  of the behaviour of different equations applied to a  group of "at-risk" patients who were referred to an  Endocrinology Service from a primary care center in  Granada, Spain. Risk factors were obesity, high blood  pressure, diabetes and lipid profile alterations.  

The authors of this study are University of Granada  professors Jesús María Ramírez Rodrigo, José Antonio  Moreno Vázquez, Alberto Ruiz Villaverde, María  de los Ángeles Sánchez Caravaca, Martín López de la  Torre Casares and Carmen Villaverde Gutiérrez.  

For more information, please visit: www.ugr.es