[Risk markers and cerebrovascular diseases. The Cienfuegos Global Project. A longitudinal study 1992-1994].
OBJECTIVE: To find the value of different risk markers (RM) used for the development of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in the relatively short term. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We carried out a longitudinal or cohort study in a sample of the population of Cienfuegos as part of the second series of measurements of the Global Project of Cienfuegos (GPC). We followed up 1,369 adults aged 15 years and over (619 men and 750 women: 1,294 alive and 75 posthumously) between January 1992 and February 1994. They formed an equiprobable randomized sample, stratified in groups of age and sex. Persons diagnosed as having CVD in the initial evaluation of the GPC were excluded. Thus the series of CVD for the study of RM was made up of 1,330 individuals requiring a medical interview and 14 new cases. The Odds Ratio (OR) of having CVD was estimated for the different RM studied: Age, sex, colour of skin, smoking, alcoholism, sedentary life, arterial hypertension and the combination of smoking and arterial hypertension. RESULTS: The OR corresponding to age rose to 2.89, which is statistically significant as RM for CVD. The OR of the other RM markers was not found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Age, in the comparatively short term--slightly over two years--is the main RM markedly predisposing to the appearance of CVD.