Cardiovascular disease risk in turkish family health centers Ays ¸e AKG € OZ, RN, MSc and Sebahat G € OZ € UM, RN, PhD Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death both worldwide and in Turkey. The risk of CVD in- creases among those who are middle aged and among people with certain sociodemographic factors related to that risk. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of the risk of CVD and assess the factors related to this risk among adults aged 40–65 years. The study consisted of 327 individuals (208 [63.6%] women and 119 [36.4%] men) from a family health center (FHC) in Antalya, Turkey, who volunteered to participate in the study. The average age of the patients was 52.7 years. This cross-sectional study was conducted between April and September of 2016. The risk levels of the participants were calculated using the HeartScore program in 4 categories (low, moderate, high, and very high risk). In addition, sociodemographic and medical data were collected from the participants, as well. It was found that 3.4% of the patients were at a very high risk, 8% were at a high risk, 22% were at a moderate risk, and 66.7% were at a low risk of CVD. Major variables increasing this risk included diastolic hypertension by 7.49 (3.77–14.88) times. The individuals who completed secondary and high school had 2.44 times greater risk compared with those who completed primary school and lower education; moreover, those who completed university and higher ed- ucation had the 2.24 times greater risk. Cardiovascular risk screening is important for apparently healthy individuals. The HeartScore program is practical for nurses and other health care professionals in FHCs to estimate individuals’ risk of CVD. (J Vasc Nurs 2019;-:1-8) Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for 31% of deaths worldwide. 1 Furthermore, cardiovascular-related mortality is increasing in many developing countries and transition countries. The Turkish Statistical Institute has reported that CVD ranks first with the rate of 40.3% among the causes of death in Turkey in 2015, thus pointing to a 0.3% increase based on the data of 2014. 2 Given that the mortality rate is high, it is important to determine the risk factors, 3 take necessary measures, and protect high-risk individuals. 4 Within the scope of the Turkish Prevention and Control Pro- gram for Cardiovascular Diseases (2015–2020), it has been rec- ommended that the CVD risk be calculated, appropriate intervention be planned for the risk score, cardiovascular risk among individuals 40 years of age and over be evaluated, and in- terventions according to individuals’ risk scores in accordance with national and international guidelines be conducted. 5 In this context, it is recommended that family practitioners assess the cardiovascular risk of individuals above 40 years of age at least once and independently of their reason of visit. Family health centers (FHCs) offer the services of obesity monitoring, blood pressure follow-up, and serum lipid profile screening and sometimes distribute brochures regarding risk factors such as healthy nutrition, the salt consumption, and hypertension. 6 How- ever, the risk of CVD is not periodically identified in FHCs throughout the country. 7 Physicians and nurses working in FHCs have a unique posi- tion in terms of determining the risk of CVD and providing necessary counseling to individuals. They can use reliable, cost-effective, and user-friendly CVD risk screening tools to do this. What is more, the European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice (2012) recommends the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) system widely used in Europe. The SCORE system calculates the risk of CVD in individuals who appear to be healthy. HeartScore is the electronic counterpart of the SCORE risk charts published in 2003 in the European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Preven- tion. The HeartScore program calculates the risk of developing a cardiovascular incident within 10 years according to a patient’s gender, age, smoking habit, blood pressure, cholesterol, and/or total cholesterol/HDL ratio. 8 Not only does it estimate coronary heart disease (CHD) but also predicts the entire atherosclerotic From the Faculty of Nursing, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. Corresponding author: Ays ¸e AKG € OZ, RN, MSc, Faculty of Nursing, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07058, Turkey (E-mail: aysedagistan@akdeniz.edu.tr). Conflicts of interest: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publi- cation of this article. Funding: The authors disclosed the receipt of the following finan- cial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors are grateful to the Scientific Research Foundation at Akdeniz University for their financial support (TYL-2016–1207). 1062-0303/$36.00 Ó 2019 Society for Vascular Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvn.2019.02.002 Vol. - No. - JOURNAL OF VASCULAR NURSING PAGE 1 www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-vascular-nursing