Secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and gender perspective in two primary healthcare centers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to describe the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease activities in two primary healthcare centers and to analyze differences according to gender. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Retrospective follow-up study (medical records audit) during one year of 187 patients discharged after one myocardial infarction to identify the use of preventive advice and treatments. RESULTS: Men had more exercise (66.7%), smoking (62.9%) and alcohol advice (20.0%) and less diet advice (62.9%) than women (34.3%, 2.9%, 0.0%, 94.3%, respectively). After one year of follow-up, there were no differences in antiplatelet therapy (99.3%), betablockers (41.4%) and statins (70.7%), yet the use of drugs with action on the renin-angiotensin system showed notable differences (men: 50.5%; women: 5.7%; P <.05). Overall, 66.6% of the men vs. 31.4 of the women received three or more treatments. There were no differences among health centers. CONCLUSIONS: Although secondary prevention seems to have improved along time, some problems remain, especially in women.