Individual socioeconomic factors conditioning cardiovascular disease risk.

BACKGROUND Our objective is to ascertain whether the socioeconomic situation of individuals has an influence on the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk estimation. METHODS The subjects were part of VAMPAHICA study and had been recently diagnosed as hypertensive. The study subjects were seen in primary care centers, were aged between 15 and 75 years and have never been treated for hypertension (HT). Normotensive individuals were also included in the study sample. All individuals answered a questionnaire that included questions related to sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables as well as habit and lifestyle variables. Of a total of 424 individuals initially invited to answer the questionnaire, 388 finally did so. Due to missing data in the dependent variables, 304 individuals were included in the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) risk tables and 287 in the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) tables. The response variable CVD risk, which is a polytomic variable, was estimated using an ordered probit model. RESULTS We found that individual's socioeconomic status, expressed mainly as their level of education, was an independent variable that had repercussions on the estimated CVD risk. This finding was more evident in the SCORE tables, and when risk was stratified according to the ESH tables the repercussions were only marginal. In particular, we found that individuals with only primary education had a 27% higher probability of CVD risk (> or =5%) in the SCORE tables, whereas individuals with a higher level of education had 50% less probability of high risk. CONCLUSIONS The CVD risk estimation tables for the general population (SCORE) reflect the socioeconomic factor better than the CVD risk stratification tables for HT (ESH tables). Target organ damage (TOD) is an important factor for stratifying risk in the ESH tables; however, the SCORE tables do not take this into account. Therefore, socioeconomic factors may already be incorporated in the ESH tables through an intermediate variable, such as TOD.