Appropriateness of clopidogrel use according to current recommendations.

Background: Clopidogrel is widely used in cardiovascular prevention. However, the prescription of clopidogrel in clinical practice does not match the recommendations concerning its indication and treatment duration.

Objective: To assess the appropriateness of clopidogrel prescription according to the accepted indications.

Rationale and methods of the cardiometabolic Valencian study (Escarval-Risk) for validation of risk scales in Mediterranean patients with hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia.

Background: The Escarval-Risk study aims to validate cardiovascular risk scales in patients with hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia living in the Valencia Community, a European Mediterranean region, based on data from an electronic health recording system comparing predicted events with observed during 5 years follow-up study.

Methods/design: A cohort prospective 5 years follow-up study has been designed including 25000 patients with hypertension, diabetes and/or dyslipidemia attended in usual clinical practice. All information is registered in a unique electronic health recording system (ABUCASIS) that is the usual way to register clinical practice in the Valencian Health System (primary and secondary care).

Development and validation of a population-based prediction scale for osteoporotic fracture in the region of Valencia, Spain: the ESOSVAL-R study.

Background: Today, while there are effective drugs that reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture, yet there are no broadly accepted criteria that can be used to estimate risks and decide who should receive treatment. One of the actual priorities of clinical research is to develop a set of simple and readily-available clinical data that can be used in routine clinical practice to identify patients at high risk of bone fracture, and to establish thresholds for therapeutic interventions. Such a tool would have high impact on healthcare policies.