title: Living alone and cardiovascular health status in residents of a rural village of coastal Ecuador (The Atahualpa Project).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Knowledge of region-specific factors affecting the cardiovascular health (CVH) is mandatory to reduce the growing burden of stroke and ischemic heart disease in rural areas of Latin American. We conducted a population-based case-control study to assess the CVH status of Atahualpa residents-a rural village representative of Coastal Ecuador-according to their living arrangements.
  
  
  METHODS
  All Atahualpa residents aged ≥40 years and free of stroke or ischemic heart disease that lived alone were identified during a door-to-door census, and their CVH status was compared to that of a sample of residents that lived with relatives. Four controls individually matched for age, gender, education, job and alcohol intake, and randomly selected from different households, were selected for each case-person.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 185 persons (37 who lived alone and 148 matched controls) were included. A poor CVH status was found in 89.2 % case-patients and 72.3 % controls (p = 0.03). We found significantly worse levels of physical activity (p < 0.0001) and non-significant trends for worse healthy diet and glucose levels among case-persons than controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that social isolation is associated with a worse CVH in rural coastal Ecuador. An ongoing community-based intervention may prove effective to improve CVH status in these social isolated persons.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad Espíritu Santo-Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador, oscardelbrutto@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Oscar H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Del Brutto
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tettamanti
authors.forename: Victor J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Del Brutto
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zambrano
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montalván
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires