Evaluation of cardiovascular risk in blood donors: results of the CARDIORISK study in the Parma Transfusion Service.
BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease, which is one of the main causes of mortality in industrialised countries, is ever increasingly the focus of prevention. In this study, called "Cardiorisk", we evaluated cardiovascular risk in the population of blood donors at the Service of Immunohaematology and Transfusion Medicine in Parma.


METHODS
Between January 2007 and December 2008, 6,172 consecutive blood donors (aged 35-65 years) were enrolled in this project which entailed calculating each subject's cardiovascular risk score, based on an evaluation of both unalterable risk factors (age and gender) and modifiable risk factors (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, glycaemia, smoking, hypertension) as well as anti-hypertensive and/or cholesterol-lowering therapy.


RESULTS
Of the 6,172 donors enrolled in the study, 5,039 (81.7%) had a low cardiovascular risk (score from 0-10), 774 (12.5%) had a moderate cardiovascular risk (score from 11-19) and 359 (5.8%) donors had a high cardiovascular risk (score from 20-28).


CONCLUSIONS
In our opinion, the calculation of cardiovascular risk is an important instrument for preventive medicine in blood donors.
Dell'anna
Paolo
P
Servizio di Immunoematologia e Medicina Trasfusionale, Dipartimento di Patologia e Medicina di Laoratorio, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma, Italy. pdellanna@ao.pr.it
Adorni
Daniela
D
Bernuzzi
Gino
G
Cantarelli
Stefano
S
Cepparulo
Alberto
A
Cocchi
Tiziano
T
Dell'anna
Loretana
L
Formentini
Alessandro
A
Sassi
Maria
M
Scognamiglio
Fiorella
F
Vescovi
Maurizio
M
Franchini
Massimo
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk