High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in a Western urban Turkish population: a community-based study.
OBJECTIVE
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the largest cause of morbidity and mortality in Turkey and in the World. Heart of Balçova Project is a community- based health promotion project that aims to reduce CVD incidence and prevalence through risk factor modification in the individual and population level. This paper presents results of the baseline survey that aimed to define CVD risk factors and risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) in the Balçova population.


METHODS
The study population included 36,187 people over 30 years of age residing in Balçova in 2007. Individuals were interviewed at their homes. Anthropometrics and blood pressure were measured and in total 12914 fasting blood samples were collected for lipid and glucose analyses. CHD risk was estimated using Framingham risk equation. Student's t test, Chi-square for trend test and ANOVA were used to compare mean levels and percentages of risk factors between age groups and gender.


RESULTS
In total 5552 men and 10528 women participated in the study. Smoking prevalence was 38.6% in men and 26.8% in women. The prevalence of obesity was 29.4% among men and 44.2% among women and obesity prevalence increased until the age group 75 years old. While 14.6% of men and 12.6% of women had diabetes, 39.8% of men and 41.8% of women had hypertension. The prevalence of high total cholesterol was 56.0% in men and 50.6% in women. Men had a higher risk of developing CHD compared to women in the following 10 years (13.4% vs 2.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of preventable risk factors for CHD is very high in Balçova population. Community-based interventions should be planned and implemented targeting both the high-risk individuals and whole population.
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey. belgin.unal@deu.edu.tr
Belgin
B
Ünal
Kaan
K
Sözmen
Reyhan
R
Uçku
Gül
G
Ergör
Ahmet
A
Soysal
Hakan
H
Baydur
Reci
R
Meseri
Hatice
H
Şimşek
Gül
G
Gerçeklioğlu
Sinem
S
Doğanay
Refik
R
Budak
Bülent
B
Kiliç
Türkan
T
Günay
Alp
A
Ergör
Yücel
Y
Demiral
Özgür
Ö
Aslan
Dilek
D
Çimrin
Yildiz
Y
Akvardar
Pinar
P
Tuncel
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population