Pilot programme for screening perimenopausal women for cardiovascular risk from community pharmacy: MENOVASC Project

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death in the world for more than 20 years. They are generally unusual in premenopausal women due to the cardiovascular protection of endogenous estrogens, so the cardiovascular risk in these has traditionally been underestimated. 

Objectives: Establish a protocol for vascular risk screening in perimenopausal women from the community pharmacy. 

Material and methods: Descriptive study from an opportunistic sample in a community pharmacy of women between 45 and 55 years old. Participants were cited at the pharmacy and their cholesterol and blood pressure levels, weight, and height were taken. Information was collected on women’s general and specific cardiovascular risk factors, medication they were taking and smoking. These data were used to estimate cardiovascular risk using SCORE tables.

Results: 18 forms were collected, with the average age of the applicants being 49 (SD 3) years old. 38.9% (CI95%: 17.3 a 64.3) had high blood pressure and 44.4% (CI95%: 21.5 a 69.2) had cholesterol levels equal to or higher than 190 mg/ml. 100% had some traditional or specific risk factor for women.

Conclusions: The usefulness of vascular risk screening in perimenopausal women is confirmed. All this places value on the intervention of the community pharmacist in the detection and management of cardiovascular risk factors.