Impact of cardiometabolic risk factors on the quality of life of soldiers of Kinshasa

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the impact of cardiometabolic risk factors on the quality of life of Kinshasa soldiers, carried out in the period from October 5, 2020, to February 2021 where all rank categories of the army: corporals and soldiers, non-commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers, senior officers, aged 19 to 69, took part in this study. The Cardiovascular Exploration Center of the Military Health Corps served as a pilot point. A convenience sample of 899 soldiers who participated in our survey. The data collection was carried out by a self-questionnaire evaluating the 4 areas of human life: (physical health, mental health, social relations, and environment). The scores of the different dimensions of the questionnaires were calculated. The average of these elements was also calculated for each dimension. Scores for all dimensions were obtained. The “General state of health” dimension, whose score varies from 1 to 5, was also carried out. A validated scale has been determined by military category scores calculated such that 0 corresponds to the worst (poor) quality of life and 100 to the best for the multi-item dimensions. Anthropometric, physiological, energy expenditure, and body composition data were also collected. A total of 899 soldiers responded to the questionnaire, made up of 797 men and 102 women, i.e. 88.7% vs. 11.3%. It is shown that the majority of servicemen had a poor quality of life (87.5%) compared to 12.5%. Among the servicemen with low quality of life, it appears that 33.5% were corporals, 28.8% were servicemen (1st and 2nd class), therefore the category of non-commissioned officers (3rd and 2nd class) sergeants -1 Sergeant Major and Warrant Officers have respectively 19.9% and 17.5%, i.e. p<0.001. The majority of soldiers had a secondary school education (69.4%) and 87.5% had at least one morbid history. The quality of life seems to be altered among the soldiers in Kinshasa, and therefore poorly perceived by the same soldiers interviewed.