An investigation carried out by professionals from the Jarrio Hospital, in Coaña (Asturias), concludes that in the most dispersed rural areas there is a greater presence of cardiovascular risk factors and, consequently, a higher probability of developing this type of pathology.
The work, signed by doctors Marcos Álvarez Pérez and José Manuel Fernández Carreira, analyzes the epidemiological profile of cardiovascular risk in western Asturias and has been presented at the XXXVIII Congress of the Spanish Society of Atherosclerosis, which is taking place these days in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
As detailed by the Principality in a press release, the study examines the prevalence of vascular risk factors (VRF) and associated cardiovascular diseases in the hospital's area of influence, comparing the results between basic health areas (BHA) and special health areas (SHA), the latter characterized by greater geographical and demographic dispersion.
The prevalence of dyslipidemia (alteration of lipid and cholesterol levels in the blood), for example, exceeds 50% in these rural areas, a figure that surpasses the data described so far for the general population in national reference studies such as ENRICA or IBERICAN. Furthermore, the report indicates that territories with greater demographic and geographical vulnerability present an increased risk of pathologies linked to hypertension and arrhythmias.
This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study that uses as a source the records of the Adjusted Morbidity Groups (AMG) tool corresponding to December 2025, and which has evaluated the situation of 38,815 people, representing 93.6% of the total population of the area.
Main results of the report
Among the population of western Asturias, the most common vascular risk factors are dyslipidemia, which affects 45.8% of users, followed by arterial hypertension (HTA), with 24.7%, and diabetes mellitus (DM), with 11.1%.
When analyzing the data by territory, the research confirms that special health areas present a clearly higher risk than basic areas. The greatest differences are observed in the prevalence of arterial hypertension, 9 points higher in special areas; in dyslipidemia, 6.4 points higher; and in arrhythmias, with a difference of 4.5 points in the most isolated environments.
Likewise, in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), increases are observed in variables such as obesity (+2.7 points), heart failure (+1.4), or chronic kidney disease (+2.1), which reinforces the greater burden of cardiovascular disease in these territories.
The study also locates particularly significant epidemiological peaks in some of the special zones analyzed. Dyslipidemia reaches higher rates in rural municipalities, reaching 64.8% in Villayón; arterial hypertension stands above 34% in Taramundi, Grandas-Pesoz, and Boal; and the highest records of diabetes mellitus are concentrated in the SEZ of Boal (16.7%).