Severe hypertriglyceridemia prevalence at a primary care setting in Catalonia, Spain.

BACKGROUND: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and pancreatitis, and its prevalence varies across populations. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of moderate-to-severe hypertriglyceridemia (msHTG, 500-879 mg/dl) and severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG, ≥ 880 mg/dl) in a primary care population in Catalonia, Spain, and to categorize them according to presence/absence of factors potentially causing HTG. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of clinical and laboratory data in SIDIAP (Information System for the Development of Primary Care Research) from 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019. We considered medications with hypolipidemic effects and those potentially increasing TG levels. We developed logistic regression models adjusted by age and sex to calculate the probability of having ms/sHTG according to covariates of interest. RESULTS: In the study years, 36.2‒42.0% of the >3.5 million active primary care users had ≥1 TG determination. Prevalence for msHTG was 0.7% and for sHTG 0.2% among those with recorded TG. In 2019, 54.7% were female; median (IQR) age was 62.5 (49.4‒73.7) years. Prevalence was higher in 36‒50-year-old persons (1.3% msHTG, 0.4% sHTG) and men (1.1% msHTG, 0.3% sHTG). Most cases were associated with secondary and <20% with non-secondary causes, the latter being most prevalent in young patients. The secondary causes more strongly associated with msHTG/sHTG were obesity, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (DM) and gamma-glutamyl transferase >100 U/L. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of msHTG was 0.7% and that of sHTG was 0.2% between 2010 and 2019 among individuals with recorded TG. msHTG/sHTG most often affected men around their fifties and people with obesity and uncontrolled DM. Most msHTG and sHTG cases were associated with the presence of secondary causes.

Difficulties in differential diagnosis of COPD and asthma in primary care.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma treatment must be based on appropriate diagnosis. However, patients receiving inhaled therapy in primary care may not be accurately diagnosed according to current guidelines. AIM: To analyse the characteristics of patients treated with inhaled medication, the concordance of tools for differential diagnosis, and the adequacy of prescription of inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) in primary care. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional, multicentre, non-interventional study conducted in 10 primary care centres in Barcelona, Spain. METHOD: Patients with chronic respiratory disease, aged >40 years were treated with ICs. They provided sociodemographic and clinical information and performed forced spirometry with a bronchodilator test (BDT). The diagnostic accuracy of asthma and COPD diagnoses were tested using two differential diagnosis questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 328 patients were initially classified as having COPD (64.8%), asthma (15.4%), or indeterminate (19.8%) by their GPs. After spirometry, 40% of patients had moderate-severe airflow obstruction according to the GOLD classification; mean reversibility of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was 8.4%; 18.6% had a positive BDT; and 39.8% had post-bronchodilator FEV1/forced vital capacity >0.7. Concordance of the differential diagnosis tools was moderate (clinical diagnosis versus spirometry and between the two questionnaires), low (clinical diagnosis versus questionnaires), and very low (spirometry versus differential diagnosis). Of the patients diagnosed with COPD, 71.4% were treated with ICs, and 12% of those classified as having asthma were not receiving ICs. CONCLUSION: Most patients can be classified as having COPD or asthma by primary care physicians. The use of the two questionnaires did not provide a better differential diagnostic compared with symptoms and spirometry with a BDT. Misdiagnosis may lead to inadequate treatment.