Outpatient register of cardiovascular diseases in the Ryazan Region (RECVASA): principal tasks, experience of development and first results

Aim. To estimate risk factors and comorbidity structure, cardiovascular diseases outcomes, evaluate their diagnostics and treatment quality in real outpatient practice using a register of patients with arterial hypertension (HT), ischemic heart disease (IHD), chronic heart failure (CHF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Ryazan Region – the territorial subject of Russian Federation with high cardiovascular mortality rate.Material and methods. The total of 1000 HT, IHD, CHF, AF patients, applied for general practitioners or cardiologists of the Ryazan outpatient clinics in March-May of 2012 were sequentially enrolled in the outpatient REgister of CardioVAscular diseases (RECVASA).Results. According to outpatient cards data HT, IHD, CHF and AF were diagnosed in 99.0%; 70.9%; 74.8% and 13.7% of the 1000 cases, respectively. 820 (82%) patients revealed a concomitant cardiovascular pathology (cardiac comorbidity), at that the most frequent was combination of HT with IHD and CHF (50.4%). Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 209 (20.9%) patients. 770 (77%) patients were assessed on their total cholesterol level; smoking status and family history of heart diseases were estimated in 28 (2.8%) and 49 (4.9%) patients, respectively. Exercise tolerance test (stress-test) was carried out in 2% of the patients (including 2.8% of the IHD patients), 24-hour blood pressure (BP) and ECG monitoring – in 0.7% and 5.5%, respectively; echocardiography and ultrasound of brachiocephalic arteries (BCA) – in 25.6% and 8.6%, respectively; coronary angiography – in 1.6% (which includes 2.3% of the IHD patients). The following drug groups were prescribed most frequently: antiplatelet agents – in 60.4% of the cases (584 patients received acetylsalicylic acid and 20 – clopidogrel), ACE inhibitors – in 62.9%, β-blockers – in 43.9% of the patients. Target BP level was achieved in 245 of 956 cases (25.6%). 50.6% of IHD patients and 51.1% of hypercholesterolemic patients received statins.Conclusion. The pilot stage of the RECVASA study revealed a high incidence rate of cardiac comorbidity (82%) in patients with hypertension, IHD, CHF and AF, insufficient estimation of cardiovascular risk factors, inadequate frequency of stress-tests, 24-hour BP and ECG monitoring, echocardiography, BCA sonography, coronary angiography use, as well as a scarce prescription of warfarin in AF and statins in hypercholesterolemic patients. Improvement of correspondence to national guidelines is the main reserve for enhancement of diagnostics and treatment quality in patients with HT, IHD, CHF, AF and hyperchole