Cardiovascular risk assessment in Portugal's primary health care system: SCORE vs. SCORE2

Cristina Silva; José Eduardo Mendes; Ricardo Ramos; Amélia Gaspar; Filipe Leal; Nuno Mendes

doi:10.1016/j.repc.2023.10.012

Cardiovascular risk assessment in Portugal's primary health care system: SCORE vs. SCORE2

Rev Port Cardiol. 2024 Feb 21:S0870-2551(24)00067-2. doi: 10.1016/j.repc.2023.10.012. Online ahead of print.

[Article in English, Portuguese]

Authors

Cristina Silva¹, José Eduardo Mendes², Ricardo Ramos², Amélia Gaspar², Filipe Leal², Nuno Mendes²

Affiliations

¹ USF Mondego, ACeS Baixo Mondego, Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: m.cristina.silva.26@gmail.com.
² USF Fernando Namora, ACeS Baixo Mondego, Coimbra, Portugal.

PMID: 38395300
DOI: 10.1016/j.repc.2023.10.012

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: The 2021 European Society of Cardiology guidelines on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention introduced the more accurate SCORE2 risk model as a replacement for the earlier SCORE, which is still used in primary care software in Portugal. Our objective is to determine whether the difference between risk assessment using SCORE and SCORE2, in the same patient population, is statistically significant.

Methods: A total of 1642 patients aged 40-65 without previous CVD, from the medical records of two Family Health Units, were included in this cross-sectional study. SCORE and SCORE2 were calculated using the variables gender, age, smoking status, lipid profile and systolic blood pressure. A statistical analysis was performed on the results.

Results: Using SCORE, 98% of the patients were in the low-moderate risk categories and 2% in the high or very high risk categories. When using SCORE2, the corresponding percentages were 55% and 45%, respectively. Reclassification with SCORE2 into higher categories was more often observed in younger (under 50 years of age) and male patients. With SCORE, 38.61% of patients were within the LDL-C target range; this figure fell to 20.28% with SCORE2. These differences are statistically significant (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: Our findings show that a significant number of patients in this cohort who were classified through SCORE at lower risk levels were reclassified into higher risk categories with SCORE2. Similarly, the number of patients within the LDL-C target range for LDL-C was also lower using SCORE2.

Keywords: Avaliação do risco cardiovascular; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular risk assessment; Doença cardiovascular; Prevenção primária; Previsão do risco; Primary prevention; Risk prediction; SCORE; SCORE2.