ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Working at sea makes it difficult to receive proper medical attention. Moreover, the prognosis of an acute cardiovascular event often depends on the measures taken in the first few hours after the onset of symptoms, but are often delayed in seamen. Thus, it is very important to detect cardiovascular risk factors in these workers as early as possible. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among sailors. METHODS: Data were on a sample of 334 individuals in the Madrid Maritime Health Service in 2011. We examined the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors, by age and sex, together withthe presence of various risk factors in the same subject and we calculated the global SCORE risk of each individual. RESULTS: Most cardiovascular risk factors were highly prevalent, more frequent among men and individuals older than 45 years, especially risk blood pressure values (40,1%), hypercholesterolemia (49,7%), tobacco use (33,5%), overweight (44,6%) and obesity (17,4%). CONCLUSIONS: Since the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among this group of seafarers was high, we consider that pre-voyage medical exams must be very detailed in order to detect cardiovascular risk factors in this population.
El trabajo a bordo de un buque a menudo se realiza lejos de tierra, lo que dificulta el acceso al tratamiento médico adecuado en caso necesario. Si se produce un evento cardiovascular en un tripulante embarcado, la demora en la atención médica puede dar lugar a graves consecuencias para su salud. Por ello se es importante detectar los factores de riesgo cardiovascular (FRCV) en estos trabajadores. El objetivo del trabajo es analizar la frecuencia de los FRCV en los trabajadores del mar en el Servicio de Sanidad Marítima de Madrid. MÉTODOS: Estudio descriptivo realizado en una población de 334 trabajadores en 2011, analizando la frecuencia de los FRCV, por sexo y por edad, la presencia simultánea de FRCV en un mismo sujeto y el riesgo SCORE total de cada individuo.
