Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 548-557, 2007

Underrecognition and Undertreatment of Atherothrombotic Diseases: REACH Registry Taiwan Baseline Data

  • Tain-Junn Cheng

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yuan-Kai Hsieh

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Shan-Jin Ryu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Wen-Ter Lai

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Huei-Ming Lo

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital and Fu-Jen Catholic University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Mao-Lin Sung

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, St Martin De Porres Hospital, Chiayi, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Wen-Long Tsao

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital–Hualien, Hualien, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ping-Keung Yip

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Neurology National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chiau-Suong Liau

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Neurology and Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Chiau-Suong Liau, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan
    • ,
  • on behalf of the Taiwan REACH Registry Investigators

Received 29 January 2007; received in revised form 3 March 2007; accepted 13 March 2007.

Article Outline

Background/Purpose

Atherothrombosis is a generalized disease affecting different vascular beds, making it the leading cause of death worldwide. To evaluate the long-term risk of atherothrombotic risk factors and determine the predictors for atherothrombotic events, an international, prospective, observational study was initiated, in which Taiwan was involved.

Methods

The REduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry recruited outpatients with either symptomatic atherothrombotic diseases or multiple risk factors. Baseline data were collected using a universal standard case report form. All subjects were followed to document future outcomes. In this paper, we analyzed the baseline data of the participants from Taiwan.

Results

In the REACH Registry, a total of 67,888 subjects from 44 countries were recruited. Among the 1062 Taiwanese participants, 971 were symptomatic subjects and 91 subjects were with risk factors only (RFO). In comparison with the global participants, the Taiwan patients were younger, with a higher prevalence of males, lower prevalence of hypertension, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, former smokers, and a greater prevalence of non-smokers. The baseline prevalence rates were: hypertension, 46.5%; fasting hyperglycemia, 38.4%; hypercholesterolemia, 45.8%; and hypertriglyceridemia, 42.8%. All these prevalence were higher than the global data, indicating an undertreatment status for the Taiwanese patients. Only 29 (2.7%) peripheral arterial disease (PAD) subjects were recruited in Taiwan, suggesting underrecognition of this disease. The RFO Taiwanese patients had fewer former smokers and more non-smokers than the symptomatic patients, suggesting that smoking may be an important factor contributing to atherothrombotic diseases.

Conclusion

In Taiwan, atherothrombotic outpatients were generally undertreated and PAD was under-diagnosed.

Key Words:  atherothrombosis , cardiovascular disease , cerebrovascular disease , peripheral artery disease , REACH Registry

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PII: S0929-6646(07)60005-9

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(07)60005-9

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 548-557, 2007

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