Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Employees and Their Families of a Saudi University: An Epidemiological Study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence of noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors among Saudi university employees and their families; to estimate the cardiovascular risk (CVR) amongst the study population in the following 10years.


METHODS
The NCD risk factors prevalence was estimated using a cross-sectional approach for a sample of employees and their families aged ≥ 18 years old, in a Saudi university (Riyadh in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; KSA). WHO STEPwise standardized tools were used to estimate NCD risk factors and the Framingham Coronary Heart Risk Score calculator was used to calculate the CVR.


RESULTS
Five thousand and two hundred subjects were invited, of whom 4,500 participated in the study, providing a response rate of 87%. The mean age of participants was 39.3±13.4 years. The majority of participants reported low fruit/vegetables consumption (88%), and physically inactive (77%). More than two thirds of the cohort was found to be either overweight or obese (72%), where 36% were obese, and 59% had abdominal obesity. Of the total cohort, 22-37% were found to suffer from dyslipidaemia, 22% either diabetes or hypertension, with rather low reported current tobacco use (12%). One quarter of participants was estimated to have >10% risk to develop cardiovascular disease within the following 10-years.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of NCD risk factors was found to be substantially high among the university employees and their families in this study.
King Saud University, College of Medicine, Cardiac Sciences Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rasmieh
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0260-955X
R
Alzeidan
Birmingham City University, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Fatemeh
F
Rabiee
King Saud University, College of Medicine, Family and Community Medicine Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed
A
Mandil
King Saud University, College of Medicine, Cardiac Sciences Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmad
A
Hersi
Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Alexandria University, High Institute of Public Health, Biostatistics Department, Alexandria, Egypt.
Amel
A
Fayed
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities