[Evaluation of the quality of medical care in primary care patients with metabolic syndrome].

Objective: As there is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in the overweight population, their cardiovascular risk is also high and the review system in Spain appears to be inadequate. The present study was carried out to evaluate the quality of the medical care of these patients.

Design: Epidemiological, cross-sectional and multicenter study.

Participants: A total of 138 primary care general practitioners from all over Spain included outpatients of both sexes, > 18 years old, with body mass index > or = 25 and with biochemical data from the last 6 months for fasting glucose, triglycerides, HDL-c and blood pressure.

Intervention: Self-evaluation, retrospective, internal and with data processing. Principal determinations: Degree of compliance of 12 evaluation criteria and description of MS factors.

Results: A total of 2,280 patients were analysed. MS prevalence was 53.2%. Biochemical data were significantly higher in patients with MS and the most prevalent risk factors were: triglycerides > 150 (49.6%), systolic blood pressure > 140 (40.8%), fasting glucose > or = 126 (38.4%). Poor compliance of a few but relevant criteria was responsible for a high percentage of errors in the medical care quality.

Conclusions: Introduction of improvement activities in patients with MS in primary care is essential in the management and prevention of cardiovascular complications.