Contemporary trends in the prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors among white-collar workers.

Abstract

Introduction. Despite significant advances in modern medicine, the prevalence   of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains high. Studying current trends in the prevalence of major CVD risk factors (RF) in different occupational groups is of particular interest Aim: to assess current trends in the prevalence of major CVD RFs based on a comparative analysis of baseline and follow-up studies in an organized population of white-collar workers. Material and research methods. A follow-up preventive study was conducted among employees of one of the research institutes in Baku 15 years after the baseline survey. The follow-up study included 136 participants (92 women and 44 men), and the baseline study included 196 participants (111 women and 85 men). A set of standard epidemiological methods used in cardiology was applied. Results. The follow-up study demonstrated a tendency toward a higher prevalence of arterial hypertension (35.9-26.1% and 47.7-36.9%; p>0,05) and diabetes mellitus (9.8-4.5% and 13.6-8.4%; p>0,05) in both women and men compared with the baseline survey; however, these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). At the same time, a tendency toward a lower prevalence of overweight, low physical activity, smoking, excessive salt intake and alcohol consumption was observed, more pronounced among men. Among men, the prevalence of low physical activity (11.4% vs. 38.1%; p<0.01), smoking (13.6% vs. 41.7%; p<0.01) and excessive salt intake (4.5% vs. 16.7%; p<0.05) was significantly lower in the follow-up study; no cases of excessive alcohol consumption were recorded. The proportion of men without CVD risk factors increased more than twofold compared with the baseline study (11.4% and 4.8%; p>0,05). Conclusion. The findings confirm the need for regular monitoring and multicomponent correction of CVD risk factors and support the development of gender-oriented prevention programs.