Population Survey of Cardiovascular Risk Factors

pp 343-354

Abstract

Background Very little is known in our country about the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and socioeconomic status with regard to treatments. For this reason, the participating institutions performed a survey in Berazategui, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Methods Five-hundred and fourteen male and female subjects were interviewed at random and they were divided into three groups according to the place of residency and socioeconomic status. The following elements were evaluated: known cardiovascular risk factors, treatment compliance, family history of coronary artery disease, occupation, physical activity and existence of coronary disease. The data were entered in a DBASE III plus computer data base and statistics were performed with Epi5 software. Results The prevalence of the -following variables was: hypertension: 23.34%; hyperlipidemia: 10.9%; diabetes 4.28%; smoking: 33.50% . As regards treatment compliance, hypertension was treated in 65.83% of the cases but hyperlipidemia only in 31.71 % of the cases. Some kind of coronary incident was reported by 3.69of the population. Conclusions 1) Risk factors were detected and treated at an advanced age (58.27 years).  2) Hypertension was significantly related to the history of close family members. The population of better-off areas was more aware of this relation and the compliance with treatment was two-fold that of poorer areas. 3) Diabetics had a strong association to a history of death of a close family member due to coronary artery disease and also to diabetic parents. 4) Smoking was highly prevalent among both sexes, although women smoked less and more of the quit the habit. The higher percentage of former smokers was found in the higher socioeconomic areas. 5) Hyperlipidemia was the less known risk factor.