Assessment of cardiovascular risk of patients with arterial hypertension of a public health unit.

Objective: To assess the cardiovascular risk, using the Framingham risk score, in a sample of hypertensive individuals coming from a public primary care unit.

Methods: The caseload comprised hypertensive individuals according to criteria established by the JNC VII, 2003, of 2003, among 1601 patients followed up in 1999, at the Cardiology and Arterial Hypertension Outpatients Clinic of the Teaching Primary Care Unit, at the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo. The patients were selected by draw, aged over 20 years, both genders, excluding pregnant women.