Una experiencia de implementación de servicio comunitario en el despistaje de la hipertensión arterial

The purpose of community service (CS) in higher education is to sensitize the students with the real problems that affect communities. It was raised, in this context, a SC project by Bioanalysis School of Carabobo`s University to aim the arterial hypertension (AH) among adults in the “Brisas de Carabobo” community, Naguanagua Municipality, strengthening the community-university integration. This paper shows the implementation of this project during 2008. Two stages were carried out: preparatory, included promoting the project among community leaders and community through home visits; execution, included screenings for cardiovascular risk factors and educational sessions. Qualitatively, the experience achieved the action convergence of by community’s leaders, community and university. Quantitatively, 300 homes were visited; two screenings for hypertension and six educational talks on the prevention of AH were done. We evaluated 107 individuals, between 19 and 77 years old (46.3 ± 12.3). The prevalence of AH was 30%, while obesity, dyslipidemia, smoking and alcohol consumption showed even higher percentages. The results suggest that the development of this project was a successful experience in the CS initiation at the University, benefiting community and generating a significant learning space. The project revealed the presence of other cardiometabolic risk factors additional to AH, providing a basis for designing new social projects to promote self-care through healthy lifestyles