Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases among male workers of building construction site in Delhi

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is mainly attributable to a combination of risk factors (RFs): tobacco use, alcohol use, high blood pressure, diabetes, unhealthy diet, and obesity which are amenable to interventions. Building construction workers are poor and vulnerable. They are also the victims of adverse working environmental conditions and subjected to health hazards of occupational origin. Objective: The aim was to study the RFs and associated sociodemographics for CVD among construction site workers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among construction site workers. A total of 172 male workers over the age of 18 years were included in the study. Modified World Health Organization Step-wise approach to chronic disease RF surveillance was used to collect data. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 17 and the Chi-square test was applied to analyze the qualitative data. Results: At least one RF for CVD was present in all the subjects, with majority (93.6%) of them having at least two RFs. The presence of the RFs (moderate to high, 3–11) was found to be significantly associated with lower income group, unskilled workers, migration year <1, alcoholics, personal tobacco use, family history of tobacco use, and the low knowledge score regarding tobacco use (0–2). Conclusions: Community-based comprehensive behavioral and life style communication package should be established for workers to reduce the modifiable RFs of CVD.