Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases: Kuwait Heart Foundation’s mobile screening

Abstract

Screening through a fully equipped unit of Kuwait Heart Foundation (KHF) was initiated to promote awareness of known risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among the population between the periods of November 2010–May 2011. There were 5027 participants (35.5% were Kuwaitis). A specially designed questionnaire was prepared to gather information about socio-demographic characteristics, behavioral factors, metabolic measurements and risk factors. Male:Female ratio was 2.4:1. Most of the subjects (51%) belonged to the age group (35–50) years. Based on BMI, males were found to be more overweight than females (35%) – BMI 25–29.99kg/m 2 and (12%) of males were obese with BMI ⩾30kg/m 2 compared to females as (13.5%) of them were overweight and (8.9%) were obese. Among the screened subjects, (21.1%) were smokers and most of them were males (19.7%), (19.5%) were diabetic, (3.7%) of participants had personal history of CVD. Overall, (21.3%) of participants had high blood pressure. Approximately, (19.5%) had high glucose (⩾7.2mmol/L) and (7.0%) had high cholesterol level (⩾6.5mmol/L). High cholesterol level were more prevalent in males than females. The results revealed that the volunteers for the mobile unit screening program had overall high levels of obesity and cholesterol, especially among the males who belonged to a relatively younger age groups. Mobile screening unit could be considered as an indicator for the level of known risk factors of CVD. Nevertheless, mobile screening unit is a good method for increasing the awareness of the public.