Authors

Hamid Najafipour1, PhD;Mahdi Afshari2, PhD;Farzaneh Rostamzadeh3, PhD

Affiliations

Physiology Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

1 Cardiovascular Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran;
2 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran;
3 Physiology Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences and Department of Physiology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Background: The risk of disease with 1 risk factor is increased
by the presence of additional risk factors. The goal of this study
was to assess the prevalence of multiple coronary artery disease
(CAD) risk factors among adults in Kerman, Iran, to identify the
population groups most at risk.
Methods: The present study included 5900 adults aged between
15 and 75 years in 2011 in Kerman, Iran. They were selected
by 1-stage cluster sampling. Blood pressure, fasting blood
glucose, lipids, and 6 CAD risk factors were assessed in the
study population. Standardized prevalence rates were compared
between the genders and age groups using the χ2 test. A P<0.05
was considered statistically significant. All the analyses were
performed using Stata, version 14.1.
Results: Overall 93.1%, 57.8%, and 26.2% of the patients had
at least 1, 2, and 3 risk factors, respectively. The most frequent
combinations of risk factors were dyslipidemia plus low physical
activity (37.9%), metabolic syndrome (27.7%), dyslipidemia
plus abdominal obesity (14.1%), dyslipidemia plus hypertension
(HTN) (10%), dyslipidemia plus smoking (8.6%), and HTN
plus abdominal obesity (6.3%). The rate of diabetes mellitus
plus HTN plus dyslipidemia was 2.8%. Both prevalence and
multiplicity of the risk factors increased by age, and they were
mostly higher in the women.
Conclusion: Almost 60% of the patients had at least 2 CAD
risk factors and only 7% were risk-factor-free. Given that the
population is ageing, community health authorities should seek
to lessen the burden of these risk factors, almost all of which are
preventable