ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Health days are an established forum for prevention and health promotion for different groups in the general population. Through the use of modular questionnaires "Global Risk Assessment" (GloRiA) on computers (handheld and desktop), the recording of patient data and presentation of the results can be optimized. Possible applications include identification of risk factors, early detection of patients at risk, epidemiology and health services research, promotion of patient adherence by visualizations (e.g. risk scores). Up to 12 different question modules are available (e.g. risk for the occurrence of cardiovascularevents by Framingham score, forfuture riskof diabetes mellitus using FindRisk score, smoking, COPD, pain, comorbidities). METHODS AND RESULTS: During 57 health days in 2010 and 2011, data were collected from 3451 persons (53% women, mean age 59.6 +/- 15.4 years) using GloRiA. The percentage of former smokers was 32.7%, while that of current smokers was 14.7%. The average 10-year risk based on the Framingham score (calculated with 1739 persons) in 53.7% of respondents was at <10%, in 37.0% at 10-20%, and in 9.3% at > 20%. In men risk was higher than in women. Smoking cessation would theoretically reduce the mean 10-year risk from 10.9 +/- 9.2% to 7.4 +/- 6.6%. In 50.5% of participants blood pressure measurement revealed elevated values, and in 10% or 2%, respectively, a moderately high or high 10-year riskof incident diabetes mellitus according to FindRisk. CONCLUSION: The use of GloRiA for the consolidation of health data under the framework of health days provides new and sustained possibilities in early detection of cardiovascular disease. The calculation and visualization of risks and the impact of treatment decisions, e.g. reduction of cardiovascular risk by smoking cessation, were communicated directly to the participants. The individual health report facilitates the diagnostic procedures bya physician.
