Assessment of cardiovascular risk among adults in a rural area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Increasing longevity of the world’s population has resulted in a shift in the disease patterns prevalent hitherto. The worst affected are the middle and low- income countries including India. The genetic make-up of Indians render them highly susceptible to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes at a much earlier age with resultant higher mortality rates. Thus, low- cost early detection, and innovative, customized preventive strategies are the need of the hour.

Methods: In this cross- sectional study, we have used the WHO/ISH risk prediction charts tailor – made for the SEAR D region, to assess the cardiovascular risk of a rural population aged above 40 years. Data regarding multiple cardiovascular risk factors were collected using a pre- defined and pre-tested questionnaire, from 400 participants, including other variables like BP and anthropometric measurements. The data were entered in Microsoft excel and analysed using SPSS- ver16.

Results: We found that 14.5% of the population had more than 10% risk of cardiovascular diseases and 41.5% were in stage I or II hypertension. People who belonged to the class II SES, use of oral tobacco, saturated cooking oils and sedentary lifestyle was found to be associated with high CV risk. However the association of CV risk with other risk factors like smoking and BMI was inconsistent.

Conclusions: There is an increasing trend of cardiovascular risk in rural areas of Tamil Nadu and risk factors like higher socio economic class, use of oral tobacco, saturated cooking oils and sedentary occupation were found to be associated with high CV risk.