Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Profiling among Employees of Tertiary Care Rural Hospital: Central India

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors are the major cause of mortality and morbidity. WHO STEPS
instrument is a standard tool proposed for surveillance of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) risk factors.
The study was aimed to assess risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in the employees of tertiary care
hospital using WHO STEPS instrument.
Materials and Method: WHO “STEPwise approach to surveillance of non-communicable diseases”
methodology was used to conduct a cross-sectional survey among 290 employees aged 20-60 years.
Results: The mean age of the study population was 39.05 out of which men constituted 52.06%. There were
the almost equal proportion of males and females with a slight male preponderance (52.06% vs. 47.93%).
Family history of hypertension 22.07%, diabetes 20%, history of CVD deaths 10%, current smokers 15.52%,
alcohol intake 38.28%, tobacco consumption 41.03 %, obese & overweight (?23 kg/m2) 44.49% were the
prevalent major cardiovascular risk factors. 3.08% had a >10% risk of developing CVD in next 10 years.
Conclusion: High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was seen which can lead to increased morbidity
and mortality. Regular health checkup camps should be conducted to combat the disease burden and create
awareness.