Cardiovascular Risk and Metabolic Syndrome in Individuals with Mental Disorders

Abstract Background: Patients with mental disorders are more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders compared to the general population. Objective: To evaluate cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome in individuals with mental disorders. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study, conducted at the Psychosocial Care Centers. Socioeconomic, clinical, biochemical and anthropometric data were collected using a standard form. Cardiovascular risk was assessed by the Framingham risk score. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was determined by the World Health- Organization (WHO), the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and associations were evaluated by the chi-square test and Fisher's exact test, as well as Odds Ratio. The significance level adopted for all statistical tests was 5%. Results: The chance of individuals diagnosed with MS be at intermediate-to-high cardiovascular risk was greater (12.22, 8.01 and 6.23 times higher according to WHO, NCEP and IDF criteria, respectively) than those without MS. Conclusion: A high percentage of patients with mental disorders were at intermediate / high cardiovascular risk, and this was significantly associated with MS.