Assessment of risk factors for coronary artery disease in divisions of internal medicine

Objective To determine the prevalences and clustering of risk factors for c oronary artery disease among unselected patients admitted to the first leve l of hospitalization. Methods The survey was prospectively designed to review all the medical rec ords of patients discharged in the week starting at 0800 h on 21 October 19 96. Family and personal histories of common risk factors, major routine bio chemical data at entry, treatments during hospitalization and diagnoses at discharge (ICD-9 codes) were examined. In total 235 divisions of internal m edicine uniformly distributed throughout Italy took part in the survey. Results The survey shows that unselected patients admitted to divisions of internal medicine are characterized by a high prevalence of risk factors fo r coronary artery disease. Some of these are incompletely assessed. Definit ion of the clustering of risk factors is also far from optimal. Conclusions The risk profiles of unselected patients at cardiovascular risk hospitalized in divisions of internal medicine are incompletely assessed. Several reasons may prevent a thorough detection of risk factors and conseq uently their treatment. There is much potential for improvement. J Cardiova sc Risk 7:147-152 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.