Cardiovascular risk stratification among hypertensive patients: the influence of risk factors

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients and the influence of risk factors on the stratification scores. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study with hypertensive patients undergoing outpatient follow-up from November 2014 to February 2015. The Global Risk Score was used to assess cardiovascular risk. To assess the influence of the risk factors with the stratification of the cardiovascular risk score, the main components analysis was used. Results: 57 patients participated in the study, and the majority (93.1%) was considered to be at high cardiovascular risk; the analysis of the main components identified five components that explain 85.2% of the total variation. Conclusion: the cardiovascular risk assessment demonstrated the importance of the identification of risk factors and, consequently, the need to implement actions aimed at controlling these factors, which constitutes a challenge in the adequate management of arterial hypertension.