RESUMEN
All patients with signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) who attended the General Practice Unit over an eight-week period were studied. Information on age, sex, obesity, smoking, family history of CVD and medical history was obtained by questionnaire; a clinical examination was performed, and their management protocols were examined. Of a total of 1,344 patients who attended, 239 (18 per cent), had problems related to the cardiovascular system. The M:F ratio was 1 : 2.9; 57 per cent were o 65 years of age, 37 per cent were 45-64 years old and 6 per cent were < 45 years of age (mean age 64.7, S.D. 13.1). Fifty-nine per cent had a family history of CVD; 48 per cent were obese (21 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women), 28 per cent diabetic and 16 per cent smoked for > 10 years. There was a relatively low frequency of CVD symptoms (palpitations, 30 per cent, shortness of breath, 27 per cent, and chest pain, 20 per cent), and the commonest diagnoses were hypertension (87 per cent), diabetes mellitus (28 per cent) and ischaemic heart disease (20 per cent). Sixty-five per cent claimed some sort of dietary restriction; < 50 per cent of the younger obese or diabetic patients exercised regularly, and "drug" therapy was by far the commonest treatment modality. It is concluded that family medicine practitioners deal with a significant quantity of CVD problems. Risk factors such as family history of CVD, smoking, and obesity are common among these patients who seldom excercised regularly, and depended mainly on drug therapy to control their illnesses (AU)