1Department of Pharmacy, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
2Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Received 14 April 2005; revised 5 September 2005; accepted 8 September 2005; online publish-ahead-of-print 4 October 2005.
* Corresponding author. Tel: +47 977 03853; fax: +47 77 64 66 47. E-mail address: ingeborg{at}farmasi.uit.no
See page 2605 for the editorial comment on this article (doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi596)
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Abstract |
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Methods and results The Tromsø study is a population-based study in the municipality Tromsø, Norway (from 1974 to till now). This analysis includes 4579-year-old participants in 2001 (n=6362, attendance rate 86%). From the age of 60 years in men and 70 years in women, almost all participants were defined as high-risk individuals according to the European guidelines, with established cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or a 10-year risk score of 5%. In the primary prevention subgroup of the 4564-year-olds, recommended antihypertensive and/or LLD use would be higher in men only, 42% compared with 12% on current medication. Among the 6579-year-olds, >90% would be eligible for antihypertensives and/or LLDs in both sexes when compared with current treatment rates of <30%. In total, 40% of all participants aged 4579 would be candidates for primary prevention, compared with 15% on current medication.
Conclusion The implementation of the European guidelines could imply a doubling of the numbers of Norwegian adults on cardiovascular medication for primary prevention. Contributors to the increase would be more frequent drug use in men and elderly people, particularly for LLD use.
Key Words: Cardiovascular disease Guidelines Primary prevention Lipid-lowering drugs Antihypertensives Risk assessment
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Introduction |
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To identify high-risk individuals, the European guidelines now recommend the recently developed SCORE (Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation) risk model as a tool in everyday practice.2 Accordingly, antihypertensives and/or lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs) for primary prevention are recommended in those with a 10-year risk of fatal CVD of 5% (SCORE
5%), together with a systolic blood pressure and/or total cholesterol above target values.1 The guidelines do not specify an upper age limit for primary prevention.
The European guidelines claim to be a framework for the development of national guidelines. Adaptation can be made in order to reflect practical, economic, and medical circumstances in the individual country. Given the profound burden of CVD on health of the adult population,3,4 as well as the health-care cost, it is important to estimate the national burden of CVD as well as the implications of suggested preventive strategies. A recent study showed that a large majority of Norwegian adults (76% aged 2079) have unfavourable total cholesterol and/or blood pressure according to the definitions of the European guidelines.5 However, elevated levels of single risk factors do not necessarily imply drug intervention. Hence, an evaluation of treatment eligibility according to the European guidelines pre-supposes a multiple risk factor evaluation.
By applying the SCORE risk model to a Norwegian population-based survey, the aim of this study is to describe the implications of the European guidelines with regard to recommended and current use of antihypertensives and/or LLDs for primary prevention.
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Methods |
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In 1994, all inhabitants aged 5574 and 510% of samples in other age groups were invited to an extensive examination (n=10 542, attendance rate 76%). Of these, all participants still residing in Tromsø in 2001 were invited to the fifth survey (n=7413). In addition, all inhabitants aged 30, 40, 45, 60, and 75 in 2001 were invited, making up a total of 10 421 people. We limited this analysis to the age group 4579 (n=6450, attendance rate 86%). Individuals with missing responses to questions on health status that were needed to classify them into CVD prevention subgroups and to calculate their risk score were excluded from the analyses (n=88). The current cross-sectional analysis includes 6362 participants, of whom 3590 (56.4%) were women. The mean age (SD) was 63.9 (9.2) years.
Screening consisted of self-administered questionnaires, clinical measurements, and laboratory tests, similar to previous screenings.6 The questionnaire included questions on: socio-demographic factors; previous myocardial infarction (MI) (yes/no); prevalent angina pectoris (yes/no); previous stroke (yes/no); current diabetes (yes/no); deep leg pain during walking (yes/no) (indicative of intermittent claudication); cigarette smoking (yes/previously/no).
The questionnaire was enclosed in the letter of invitation and responses collected at the following visit, where height, weight, and blood pressure were measured and blood samples collected. Blood pressure was measured three times on one occasion. The mean of measurements 2 and 3 was used in our analyses. Trained personnel recorded the blood pressure with an automatic device (Dinamap Vital Signs Monitor, Tampa, FL, USA) using standardized procedures. Non-fasting serum cholesterol was analysed using standard enzymatic methods at the Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital of North Norway.
The proprietary names of medicines used regularly during the 4 weeks preceding the study were reported on the questionnaire and registered on the fifth level of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) system, version 2000.7 In addition, the questionnaire included a pre-defined question with answering categories (yes/previously/no) on the use of LLD, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic drugs.8 Participants reporting a proprietary name of an LLD (ATC group C10) and/or current LLD use were included as LLD users in the analysis.
Diabetes was defined by self-report or use of an antidiabetic drug (ATC group A10). Similarly, angina pectoris was defined by self-report or use of nitrates (ATC group C01D). Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure
90 mmHg9 or a self-report of current antihypertensive use.
SCORE risk model
The SCORE risk model is derived from data sets from 12 European cohort studies, mainly carried out in general population settings.2 The model estimates the 10-year risk of having a fatal CVD event for an individual, on the basis of age, gender, total cholesterol concentration, systolic blood pressure, and current smoking status. Separate risk models have been developed for high- and low-risk European populations. Norway is classified as a high-risk country. A total of 129 971 participants in cohorts from eight high-risk countries were included in the high-risk model, and 48 425 (37%) of these participants were Norwegians. As age is a major determinant of coronary risk, and the age ranges of the cohorts were somewhat heterogeneous, the calculation of model fit was limited to the age group 4564.2
Cardiovascular risk groups
The study population was stratified into subgroups according to CVD risk level.
Implications of the European guidelines on use of antihypertensives and/or LLDs for primary prevention
Participants in the primary prevention subgroup who reported use of antihypertensives and/or LLDs were included as current users in the analyses. The current proportions of drug users were compared with the recommended proportions eligible for primary prevention according to the European guidelines: those with a 10-year risk 5% of having a fatal CVD event, together with systolic blood pressure
140 mmHg and/or total cholesterol
5.0 mmol/L.1
We calculated a delta () percentage, which expresses the difference between recommended and observed current drug use in the Tromsø study (percentage of users according to recommended European guidelines minus percentage of current users). A positive delta percentage indicates that the recommended use exceeds the current use.
Using prevalences of CVD morbidity and drug use from our study population, we estimated the implications of the European guidelines in the primary prevention subgroup of the 4564 and the 6579-year-olds registered in Norway.10
Statistical analysis
Age-adjusted means of total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure (baseline characteristics) were calculated by the least-square means in the proc GLM procedure in SAS and compared using two-sided t-tests for variables with a normal distribution. A P-value of <0.01 was considered statistically significant to account for the inflation of the type I error as a result of multiple testing. Current and recommended antihypertensive and/or LLD use is described in terms of proportions. Confidence intervals for proportions were calculated using the continuity corrected version of the score.11 Adjustment for age of crude current and recommended LLD and/or antihypertensive proportions in total age groups 4564 and 6579 was performed according to the direct method, using the Norwegian standard population.10 The SAS software package SAS Institute Inc., version 8, was used.
Ethics
This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted from the National Data Inspectorate and the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics in Northern Norway. All participants gave a written informed consent.
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Results |
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Discussion |
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Smokers have a higher absolute risk of CVD at a given level of blood pressure or serum total cholesterol. Ideally, a reduction in CVD risk factors should be achieved by life-style modification. In our study population, 27% were current daily smokers. If everyone had been a non-smoker, 34% would still be eligible for antihypertensive and/or LLD treatment as a result of the high serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels in this population (data not shown). Thus, given the large gap between current risk level and cut-off for intervention according to the current European guidelines, adherence to these guidelines would most probably imply that a large proportion of the population should be on medication.
An important strength of this study is its population-based setting, with our information on the non-users of drugs in the primary preventive subgroup. Another strength is the inclusion of clinical measurements such as serum total cholesterol and blood pressure. However, with regard to the relevance of the measurements used in this study, some factors need to be considered.
The serum cholesterol and blood pressure readings were taken from a population survey setting and measured on a single occasion, thus not taking into account the regression to the mean. In clinical practice, several readings over a longer time period are recommended before deciding whether to start drug therapy. Nevertheless, distributions of blood pressure values in whole populations can be validly characterized by measurements taken on a single occasion in a representative sample of individuals.12
An inherent limitation of the cross-sectional study design is that we have no information on total cholesterol concentration or blood pressure before the initiation of antihypertensives or LLDs. Risk factors entered in the SCORE risk model have already been lowered in some participants in our study population. This may explain why the observed treatment rates are higher than recommended in younger non-smoking women. The calculated treatment risk score, with corresponding proportions eligible for therapy using the European guidelines, may consequently be considered as a conservative estimate of treatment eligibility.
Furthermore, morbidity and drug use variables are based on self-reports. However, the formulations of questions on morbidity and drug use in this study have been used in other surveys performed by the Norwegian Institute of Health.8 Validation of questionnaire information from these comparable surveys agrees with medical records for prevalent diabetes (96%), MI (81%), current drugs for hypertension (97%), insulin (95%), and oral antidiabetics (100%).13,14 No validation has been performed in this study with regard to self-report of LLD use. However, 85% of those reporting current LLD use also reported a proprietary LLD in another part of the questionnaire, which consolidates the information on LLD use.
According to the European guidelines, a large number of elderly people in our study population would be candidates for primary prevention with either an antihypertensive or an LLD. Although the beneficial effects of antihypertensives among elderly people are well documented, the documentation of the beneficial effects of LLDs on total and CVD mortality is more limited.15 More specific guidance to preventive LLD intervention in elderly people is warranted if the European guidelines are to be fully implemented in clinical practice.
Importantly, there may be factors contributing to an overestimation of CVD risk, and thereby to treatment eligibility, through use of the SCORE risk model. Trends for coronary heart disease (CHD) and CVD incidence and mortality in most industrialized countries are currently declining.16 The CVD risk-factor level is declining in Norway: this previously high-risk country has recently attained a CHD mortality comparable to that of Greece.17 Risk prediction using the high-risk SCORE model derived from observational periods, started 20 years ago, is implicitly prone to overestimation in this situation. However, it is not yet known whether the low-risk SCORE model would fit the current Norwegian mortality situation better.
In the current unsettled situation, it may be unreasonable to use a risk model developed from risk estimates of the 1970s and 1980s as a guiding tool for starting life-long preventive drug therapy in young adults today. For this reason, we decided not to project risk in younger people to what they would attain when aged 60, an actual recommendation of the European guidelines.
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Conclusion |
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Acknowledgements |
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Conflict of interest: there is no conflict of interest.
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References |
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