DMRC to undertake survey assessing cardiovascular risks in Guyana

The lack of medical personnel and analyses to determine the causes of cardiovascular complications and risks factors among Guyanese has led the Doobay Medical and Research Centre (DMRC) to undertake a survey assessment, evaluating precautionary measures that should be taken to avoid several diseases.
At a media briefing on Thursday, one of the researchers, Dipika Desai stated that the idea surfaced after checking Guyana’s health records and assessment, which showed that data was lacking in these areas.
Additionally, questions were raised as to why diabetes was prevalent among so many, causing them to undergo dialysis treatment.
“It was very important to study the risk factors of what brings people to the end

stage, which is the dialysis stage … We tried to see what is published about Guyana and the risk factors. Unfortunately, we didn’t find much, so we decided that that’s where we need to build the baseline,” she said.
Desai explained that initial research would commence with a pilot study to assess if the project could be completed on a larger scale. For now, 100 individuals will partake in the research, but they must not be suffering from diabetes.
“In this study, we are actually going to focus more on people that are not the dialysis patients, but people of the general healthy population, so anybody from the general population is welcomed to come,” Desai said.
The assessment commences with screening which involves physical checks followed by medical tests such as blood pressure testing to determine the level of hypertension in the population.
“We will take all of the information and put it in to calculate what is called the Framingham Risks Score. It estimates the risks of having a heart attack in the near future and it is widely used by the WHO (World Health Organisation) and many other institutes,” the researcher informed.
Preliminary calculations will lead to deductions, advising Guyanese of precautions to prevent the risks of having a cardiovascular disease. For the research project, persons who are diagnosed with any related diseases or complications will be provided with free medication.
Desai explained, “Because it is a research project, if we see a person and they didn’t know they were diabetic, but we find out that they are or they have high cholesterol levels and need to go on statins, all of these medications will be provided free of cost.”
Adding to that, all of the tests such as cholesterol and blood glucose will be done at no cost to participants.
DMRC Director, Dr Budhendra Doobay stated that information would be provided as to how persons could participate in the study, which would be held at the medical institution.