RESUMO
AIMS: The aim of this work is to identify cardiovascular risk factors in a population of ethnic Gypsy diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to compare this population with a control group of non-Gypsy patients also diagnosed with T2DM and with a similar sociological background. DESIGN: Observational descriptive cross-cutting study. METHODS: Using a systematic random sampling, we selected a sample of 220 Gypsy patients diagnosed with T2DM and another sample of 230 non-Gypsy patients, also diagnosed with T2DM. Both samples were composed of patients registered at the Almanjáyar and Cartuja health centres, in Granada (Spain). The data were collected between October 2010 and October 2011. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between the Gypsy and non-Gypsy patients in the following variables concerning the control of cardiovascular risk: systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and cardiovascular risk. CONCLUSIONS: The factors of cardiovascular risk presented by Gypsy patients diagnosed with T2DM were more acute than those of non-Gypsy patients (Tab. 7, Ref. 26).
