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Cardiovascular risk factor levels in a lower middle‐class community in Ankara, Turkey
Author(s) -
Tezcan S.,
Altıntaş H.,
Sönmez R.,
Akinci A.,
Doğan B.,
Çakır B.,
Bilgin Y.,
Klör H. U.,
Razum Oliver
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3156.2003.01057.x
Subject(s) - medicine , demography , obesity , body mass index , population , risk factor , logistic regression , confidence interval , cross sectional study , gerontology , environmental health , pathology , sociology
Summary Study objective To assess the prevalence of risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) in a lower middle‐class urban community of Turkey. Design Cross‐sectional study in an age‐ and sex‐stratified random community sample with equal sample size per stratum. Direct age‐standardization using the standard world population to allow international comparison of findings. Logistic regression modelling to identify risk factors for obesity. Setting Gülveren, a residential area in Ankara, total population 23 000 persons. Participants A total of 1672 adults aged 25–64 years and resident in the study community were interviewed, 1272 (76.1%) of those came for physical examination. Main results The age‐standardized prevalence of hypertension according to WHO MONICA criteria was 18.6% (95% confidence interval: 16.1–21.1%) among women and 12.3% (9.7–14.9%) among men; of obesity (body mass index, BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 ) 51.0% (47.6–54.3%) among women and 15.1% (12.0–18.2%) among men; of current smoking 20.1% (17.5–22.6%) among women and 64.8% (61.4–68.2%) among men; of hypercholesterolaemia 20.1% (17.4–22.9%) among women and 13.8% (10.8–16.8%) among men; and of low high density lipoprotein (HDL) 48.4% (44.8–52.1%) among women and 40.6% (36.0–45.2%) among men. In the regression model, age, female sex, non‐ and ex‐smoking were associated with obesity. Conclusions The prevalence of smoking, obesity and low HDL is high in this urban, lower middle‐class population, even in comparison with industrialized countries. Unexpectedly, women have less favourable CHD risk profiles than men, except for smoking. Preventive action should be community‐wide and address the common risk factors simultaneously to avoid replacement effects such as becoming obese after quitting smoking.