Cardiovascular disease risk factors in the Lubelskie Voivodeship in 2008-2018 - part I: tobacco smoking

Abstract

Background: Smoking is one of the most common cardiovascular risk factors. It is responsible for 7 million deaths annually in the world. Another 1.2 million people die from passive smoking. Nicotinism causes a chronic inflammatory process, oxidative stress, and it also works by increasing adrenergic arousal. The Cardiovascular Diseases Prevention Program implemented by Primary Healthcare Clinics is designed to assess the risk factors for cardiovascular events in patients. This provides an opportunity for an early response and appropriate action. Methods: A retrospective analysis of data obtained by the National Health Fund as part of the implementation of 86,485 preventive cards of the Cardiovascular Diseases Prevention Program in the Lubelskie Voivodeship in 2008-2018 was carried out. The analyzes were performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25 program. The chi-square test and the Pearson linear correlation between the quantitative features were used to test the relationship between the two qualitative features. Significant predictors of a risk factor for cardiovascular disease were determined using multivariate logistic regression. The significance level was assumed to be α = 0.05 for two-tailed tests. Results: Tobacco smoking was declared by 26.5% of all respondents. It was significantly more often declared by men. The percentage of smokers increased with age - the highest was obtained for the group of 55-year-olds. Smoking cigarettes was significantly more often reported by people with primary education (44%), manual workers (33%) and retirees / pensioners (35%). Smoking tobacco escalated the risk of being diagnosed with arterial hypertension by 16.5%. It significantly influenced the risk of diabetes - even by 33.9%. It raised the risk of hypercholesterolaemia by 17.1% compared to never-smokers as well. Conclusions: The prevalence of nicotinism is alarmingly high. The effective implementation of the Cardiovascular Diseases Prevention Program provides an opportunity to educate on a large scale and identify patients at high risk of a cardiovascular event. Assessing the risk of death on the SCORE scale can motivate patients to change their lifestyle and make them aware of the impact of smoking on increasing this risk.