Abstract
To investigate the prevalence of simultaneity of cardiovascular risk factors and their association with socio-demographic characteristics in older adults in Southern Brazil. Cross-sectional study with 1.553 elderly participants of the EpiFloripa study in Florianópolis-SC. The risk factors evaluated were: Inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, insufficient leisure-time physical activity, alcohol consumption and smoking. The construction of the outcome was performed by combining all of the factors mentioned and then categorized. Bivariate and multivariate analyzes were performed using the Poisson regression. It was found that 57.6% of the elderly coexist with the simultaneity of cardiovascular risk factors. The combination of inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption and insufficient leisure-time physical activity was the most prevalent. The highest prevalence observed in women and men was the insufficient leisure-time physical activity and inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption of 46.4 and 28.1%, respectively. The observed prevalence of the four factors was higher among men (2.5%), whereas for women (0.3%). Men were 11.0% more likely to accumulate risk factors compared to women. And each additional year of schooling represents 4.0% less probability of accumulating cardiovascular risk factors. The differences between the simultaneity of risk factors and sociodemographic aspects should be considered in the approach for older adults, both at the individual level and in the construction of public policies.
Highlights
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) constitute the main group of noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Brazilian population and around the world, representing about one third of global deaths[1,2,3]
Despite its increasing incidence with advancing age, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that most of these morbidities could be prevented, and that three-quarters of cardiovascular mortality can be decreased with lifestyle changes aimed at controlling risk factors[6,7]
Most risk factors established in the literature are: blood pressure, high blood glucose, dyslipidemia, being overweight, and abdominal obesity, all of which can be controlled by changing inappropriate eating habits, physical inactivity, alcohol abuse and smoking[6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) constitute the main group of noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Brazilian population and around the world, representing about one third of global deaths[1,2,3]. These diseases have a major impact on the economy, health systems and social security[4]. Despite its increasing incidence with advancing age, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that most of these morbidities could be prevented, and that three-quarters of cardiovascular mortality can be decreased with lifestyle changes aimed at controlling risk factors[6,7]. Studies show that the interaction of these factors is more worrisome than just their sum when it comes to health problems, due to their synergistic effect[13,14,15,16,17,18]
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