TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing cardiovascular risk in regional areas
T2 - The Healthy Hearts - Beyond City Limits program
AU - Carrington, Melinda J.
AU - Jennings, Garry L.
AU - Clark, Robyn A.
AU - Stewart, Simon
N1 - Funding Information:
The Rotary Club of Melbourne is sincerely thanked for their endearing commitment to the program and their fundraising efforts to provide the mobile assessment unit and project supplies. The organizing committees and program co-coordinators from the Rotary Club of Colac, the Rotary Club of Bairnsdale, the Rotary Club of Shepparton and the Rotary Club of Geelong are gratefully acknowledged. The authors wish to thank all nurses, students and research staff who assisted with the screening assessments, data collection and ECG interpretation. Much appreciation also goes to the data management team for their processing of an abundance of paperwork. All authors are supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Healthy Hearts was supported in part by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. This work was supported by a competitive research grant from the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund, the Alison Bult bequest, raised funds by the Rotary Club of Melbourne and philanthropic funding from Perpetual Philanthropic Services, George Adams Tattersalls Foundation, Goldman Sachs JB Were Foundation and the Windermere Foundation Limited.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is more prevalent in regional and remote Australia compared to metropolitan areas. The aim of Healthy Hearts was to determine age and sex specific CVD risk factor levels and the potential value of national risk clinics. Methods: Healthy Hearts was an observational research study conducted in four purposefully selected higher risk communities in regional Victoria, Australia. The main outcome measures were the proportion of participants with CVD risk factors with group comparisons to determine the adjusted likelihood of elevated risk factor levels. Trained personnel used a standardized protocol over four weeks per community to measure CVD risk factor levels, estimate absolute CVD risk and provide feedback and advice. Results: A total of 2125 self-selected participants were assessed (mean age 58 ± 15 years, 57% women). Overall, CVD risk factors were highly prevalent. More men than women had ≥ 2 modifiable CVD risk factors (76% vs. 68%, p < .001), pre-existing CVD (20 vs. 15%, p < .01) and a major ECG abnormality requiring follow-up (15% vs. 7%, p < .001) . Less men reported depressive symptoms compared to women (28% vs. 22%, p < .01). A higher proportion of women were obese (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.63), and physically inactive (adjusted OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.63). Conclusions: High CVD risk factor levels were confirmed for regional Victoria. Close engagement with individuals and communities provides scope for the application of regional risk management clinics to reduce the burden of CVD risk in regional Australia
AB - Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is more prevalent in regional and remote Australia compared to metropolitan areas. The aim of Healthy Hearts was to determine age and sex specific CVD risk factor levels and the potential value of national risk clinics. Methods: Healthy Hearts was an observational research study conducted in four purposefully selected higher risk communities in regional Victoria, Australia. The main outcome measures were the proportion of participants with CVD risk factors with group comparisons to determine the adjusted likelihood of elevated risk factor levels. Trained personnel used a standardized protocol over four weeks per community to measure CVD risk factor levels, estimate absolute CVD risk and provide feedback and advice. Results: A total of 2125 self-selected participants were assessed (mean age 58 ± 15 years, 57% women). Overall, CVD risk factors were highly prevalent. More men than women had ≥ 2 modifiable CVD risk factors (76% vs. 68%, p < .001), pre-existing CVD (20 vs. 15%, p < .01) and a major ECG abnormality requiring follow-up (15% vs. 7%, p < .001) . Less men reported depressive symptoms compared to women (28% vs. 22%, p < .01). A higher proportion of women were obese (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.63), and physically inactive (adjusted OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.63). Conclusions: High CVD risk factor levels were confirmed for regional Victoria. Close engagement with individuals and communities provides scope for the application of regional risk management clinics to reduce the burden of CVD risk in regional Australia
KW - Cardiovascular disease
KW - Prevention
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Risk factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865575406&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6963-12-296
DO - 10.1186/1472-6963-12-296
M3 - Article
C2 - 22943553
AN - SCOPUS:84865575406
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 12
JO - BMC health services research
JF - BMC health services research
IS - 1
M1 - 296
ER -