Background: Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are still the most frequent cause of death in industrial nations. Employer-initiated screening of the CV risk could make an early contribution to optimization of the prevention strategies.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study the CV risk profile (e.g., dyslipidemia, hypertension, smoking, diabetes mellitus and familial disposition) of 1436 employees at the industrial park in Frankfurt Höchst was analyzed. The total risk was estimated using the PROCAM score.
Results: A hypercholesterolemia (low-density lipoprotein, LDL >130 mg/dl) was detected in 36% of the participants. Of the high-risk participants (myocardial infarct, apoplexy and/or diabetes) 23.7% (n = 9/38) were in the target range for LDL as defined by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) of below 70 mg/dl, 18.4% (n = 7) had levels between 70 and 100 mg/dl and 57.9% (n = 22) had levels of more than 100 mg/dl. In addition, more than half of the subjects (53.2%) had increased blood pressure values (defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg). The prevalence of diabetes (blood sugar >126 mg/dl) was very low (1.3%) as was the frequency of manifest CV diseases (1.4% myocardial infarct or apoplexy, 2.9% stabile angina pectoris or peripheral arterial occlusive disease, PAOD).
Conclusion: The data confirm that the risk factors high blood pressure and dyslipidemia are widespread and the achievement of target values is insufficient, particularly with a high risk of CV. Behavioral therapeutic and/or pharmaceutical measures should be instigated in order to better exploit the high preventive potential for carriers of these risk factors.
Keywords: Cardiovascular prevention; Dyslipidemias; Employer-initiated screening; Hypertension; Low-density lipoprotein.