Original paper
Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases found in patients admitted to the general practitioner

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the most serious cause of deaths in Poland as well as in the majority of other developed countries. The most significant contributors to morbidity and mortality due to heart and coronary diseases include: hypertension, obesity, overweight, lipid disorders, diabetes and smoking cigarettes. Epidemiological studies concerning the frequency of incidence of CVD comorbidities in different social groups enable the forecast of the risk of diseases and optimalisation of preventive actions.
Aim: The assessment of the incidence of risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases among patients admitted to the general practitioner.
Material and methods: Every third patient coming to the general practitioner was included in the study between July and September 2009. Two hundred thirty-four patients in total were examined.
Results: Average age of patients is 51 ±15.44 years. Hypertension was found in 39.7% of patients and diabetes in 5.9%. Ischemic disease occurred in 14.9%. Obesity (BMI  30 kg/m²) was discovered in 24.5%, overweight (BMI 25-29.9 kg/m²) in 41.5%. 31.2% of the patients had correct body mass (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m²). The higher the BMI index rose, the significantly higher glucose concentration went up. Over half of the patients (approximately 60%) don’t know the correct range of fasting glucose concentration.
Conclusions: Among patients admitted to the general practitioner for various reasons there was a very high percentage of those with overweight and obesity, hypertension and ischemic disease as well as diabetes. The high percentage of obesity in particular and related metabolism disorder of glucose is crucial evidence for the necessity of more radical decisions as for the change in patients lifestyle. More commitment in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases by non-medical institutions is required.