title: Prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in people of Asian Indian origin: Age and sex variation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  No study has been undertaken on people of Asian Indian origin to investigate the age and sex variation in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the age and sex variation in the prevalence of CVD risk factors among the people of Asian Indian origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 682 (302 males and 380 females) participants aged 25-85 years took part in the study. The subjects were categorized into 4 groups, namely, Group I (25-34 years), Group II (35-44 years), Group III (45-54 years), and Group IV (55 years and above). Height, weight, and the circumferences of minimum waist (MWC) and maximum hip were collected using standard techniques. Waist-hip ratio (WHR) was then calculated. Percentage of body fat (%BF) and body mass index (BMI) were measured using an Omron body fat analyzer. Left arm systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were taken from each participant with the help of an Omron MI digital electronic blood/pulse monitor. Metabolic profiles, namely, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high (HDL), low (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were also measured using an autoanalyzer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences for age, BMI, MWC, WHR, SBP, DBP, TC, TG, LDL, VLDL, and TC:HDL and TG:HDL ratios across the groups. It was observed that there were significant sex-specific group differences (male [χ(2) (12)] =29.22, P < 0.01 and female [χ(2) (12)] =56.69, P < 0.001) for obesity, high BP, high TC, high TG, and high FBG. But no significant group-specific sex difference was evident for either of the risk factors, except for Group IV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Age irrespective of sex modulates CVD risk factors and warranted prevention as early as middle age.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Arnab
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Minakshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bhagat
authors.forename: Mithun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Sanjib Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.forename: Riddhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goswami
authors.forename: Susil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pal