Assessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in women and men in the primary health care: A case study in Ardabil, Iran

Objective(s): In Iran, half of all deaths and 79% of deaths from non-communicable diseases are attributed to cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, more than 76% of the total burden of diseases and the first cause of catastrophic health expenses in Iran are related to these diseases. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the status and trend of providing cardiovascular disease risk assessment services by gender, in order to carry out the necessary interventions in the comprehensive health service centers of Ardabil province, Iran. Methods: The present descriptive study was conducted in Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. It used the data available in the registration system of the Health Network. The research population consisted of all men and women aged between 40 and 80 who visited the comprehensive health service centers to perform risk assessment of cardiovascular strokes in the province from 2018 to the end of 2022. The data were entered into Excel software. FORCAST function was used to predict the future through a linear regression analysis. To compare the final results, which is actually a reduction in mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, the difference test of two mortality rates due to cardiovascular diseases was used in 2018 and march 2023. Results: The results showed a relatively high prevalence of some risk factors for cardiovascular diseases including history of hypertension, diabetes, abdominal obesity, suspected diabetes, lipid disorder, body mass index of 30 and above in women. Also, the results of the study showed that 38.3% of men and 61.72% of women were at the risk level of 10-20%, 34.8% of men and 65.2% of women were at the risk level of 20-30%, and 28.9% of men and 71.1% of women were at the risk level above 30%. conclusion: Women were more at risk of cardiovascular diseases and complications than men. Knowing the common risk factors in the region helps to focus interventions on effective prevention and treatment measures and to adopt evidence-informed policies in order to reduce these risk factors.