Cardiovascular Risk in Adults and its Association with Health Services Utilization. ENSANUT 2018-2019

Abstract

Background The use of health services by the adult population is related to cardiovascular risk and its stratification. Cardiovascular risk (CVR) stratification should be a tool for the assessment of the patients and the appropriate control during the process of medical care and utilization of health services for the adults. Objective Evaluate the association between cardiovascular risk (CVR) in adults and the utilization of health services. Material and Methods A secondary analysis was performed of the data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT) 2018-2019. The CVR classification (risk score) was obtained in 43,070 adults with a previous diagnosis (self-report) and 1,237 adults newly diagnosed. Independent, risk factors and the association between groups of CVR and utilization of preventive, outpatient and hospital services were analyzed. Results More than 85% of adults interviewed have some degree of CVR. Almost half of them have low CVR (48.2%). Older adults with social security predominate in the group with high and very high CVR. Seventy-five percent of adults recently diagnosed have low CVR. In both, there is very little utilization of health services. For adults previously diagnosed CVR, the higher the CVR, the greater the likelihood of utilization of outpatient, preventive and hospital services, in contrast to adults without CVR independent of the marital status, sex, health institution and socioeconomic level. Conclusion The results give evidence of areas of opportunity for improvement in the quality of health services. The evaluation of CVR in primary care and promotion and prevention of CVR should be strengthened.