title: The social transition of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the African region: evidence from three cross-sectional surveys in the Seychelles.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and several cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVRFs) and to assess whether this association has changed over a 15-year observation period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three independent population-based surveys of CVRFs were conducted in representative samples of all adults aged 25-64 years in the Seychelles, a small island state located east to Kenya, in 1989 (N=1081), 1994 (N=1067) and 2004 (N=1255).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among men, current smoking and heavy drinking were more prevalent in the low versus the high SES group, and obesity was less prevalent. The socioeconomic gradient in diabetes reversed over the study period from lower prevalence in the low versus the high SES group to higher prevalence in the low SES group. Hypercholesterolemia was less prevalent in the low versus the high SES group in 1989 but the prevalence was similar in the two groups in 2004. Hypertension showed no consistent socioeconomic pattern. Among women, the SES gradient in smoking tended to reverse over time from lower prevalence in the low SES group to lower prevalence in the high SES group. Obesity and diabetes were more common in the low versus the high SES group over the study period. Heavy drinking, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were not socially patterned among women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of several CVRFs was higher in low versus high SES groups in a rapidly developing country in the African region, and an increase of the burden of these CVRFs in the most disadvantaged groups of the population was observed over the 15 years study period.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), Lausanne University Hospital, Route de la Corniche 10, 1010 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stringhini
authors.forename: Bharathi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Viswanathan
authors.forename: Jude
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gédéon
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paccaud
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bovet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies / Q000379:methods; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012750:Seychelles / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class