FACTORS ASSOCIATED TO THE HISTORY OF ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN HYPERTENSIVE PRIMARY CARE USERS

Objective: To investigate the factors associated to the history of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in hypertensive patients attended at Primary Healthcare (PHC) units. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in a health district in the city of Salvador, Bahia, between May and September, 2013.  Primary data was collected through trained interviewers. The magnitude of the association was estimated using the OR calculation, adopting the CI of 95%. Subsequently, multivariate analyses were carried out using logistic regression.  The project was approved by CEP/UNEB (CAAE 09656012.0.0000.0057) and financed by PRO/PET-Saude, 2012. Results: There were 297 hypertensive patients and, among these, 243 (81.3%) were of the female gender and had average age of 56 years (± 11.54). It was observed that 35 (11.8%) reported having suffered AMI. The risk factors associated the prior AMI were concomitant Diabetes Mellitus (DM) (OR=2.19; CI95% 1.03 – 4.68) and not being aware of the existence of health education groups (OR=5.31; CI95% 1.39 – 20.20); while the protection factors were absence of central obesity (OR=0.43; CI95% 0.20 – 0.95), taking part in health education groups (OR=0.19; CI95% 0.05 – 0.73) and having had an electrocardiogram during the past 06 months (OR= 0.37; CI95% 0.15 – 0,92). Conclusion: A high percentage of hypertensive patients with a background of AMI which was associated to the diagnosis of DM, central obesity, not having had periodic electrocardiograms and not having participated in health education groups.  Strategies for the promotion of healthcare with the population and outpatient care may be considered as effective actions for the prevention of AMI.