Francisco Barrera-Guarderas, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Psiquiátrico Julio Endara; Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador
Carlos Vásquez-Salgado, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Psiquiátrico Julio Endara, Quito, Ecuador
Introduction: Psychiatric disorders constitute a group of diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates that affect quality of life. Cardiovascular risk is increased in these conditions. Objective: To associate psychiatric disorders with cardiovascular risk factors in individuals with arterial hypertension attending outpatient consultation at a mental health hospital. Method: Observational study conducted in 2019 among outpatients with arterial hypertension and psychiatric disorders at a specialized hospital in Quito, Ecuador. Central tendency measures and association tests with a 95% CI were used. Results: The average age was 56.48 (± 13.51) years, with a predominance of women. There was a tendency towards obesity (BMI 31.60 ± 5.51), hypertriglyceridemia (183.96 ± 97.63 mg/dl), and decreased HDL-c (38.4 ± 18.53 mg/dl). Psychiatric diagnoses included mood disorders (44.8%), organic disorders (26.7%), schizophrenia (15.2%), and bipolar disorder (13.3%). The 6% of patients had a high cardiovascular risk, although not significant; antipsychotics had no statistical impact. Conclusions: Comprehensive evaluation and treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders are imperative to reduce cardiovascular risk, even when they cannot be identified using traditional risk scales. Therefore, other approaches considering patient-specific characteristics, such as medication use and additional risk factors, are recommended.
Keywords: Hypertension. Cardiovascular risk. Bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia. Emerging risk factors.
