CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 21, No 1, January/February 2010
28
AFRICA
analysis of the variables was performed to process the data as
tables. Continuous variables were described by calculating the
means and standard deviation (SD). Categorical variables were
described using frequency tables.
Results
Table 1 shows the characteristic features of the final study popu-
lation, including BMI, SBP, DBP, and blood glucose and lipid
profiles. Two thousand persons were analysed, with a mean age
and SD of 42.1
±
21.6. Of these, 43.7% (873) were males while
56.3% (1 127) were females. The mean values of other variables
were as follows: BMI 22.8
±
7.9 kg/m
2
(men), 25.6
±
11.3 kg/
m
2
(women), waist circumference (WC) 87.1
±
20.2 cm (men)
and 89.5
±
18.4 cm (women), SBP 132.9
±
35.1 mmHg, DBP
81.6
±
22.3 mmHg, fasting blood glucose 115.8
±
51.7 mg/dl,
total cholesterol 162.1
±
53.6 mg/dl, LDL-C 110.3
±
43.8 mg/dl,
HDL-C 42.3
±
9.5 mg/dl and triglycerides 139.7
±
62.2 mg/dl.
Tables 2 and 3 show the prevalence of CVD risk factors
according to gender and 10-year age-group distribution, respec-
tively. The overall prevalence of hypertension in Egbeda resi-
dents was 20.8% (21.1% among men and 20.5% among women).
Of these, only 14.2% (11.4% in men and 16.5% in women) were
known hypertensives and only 18.6% of the known hypertensives
were on any form of treatment. Although women had a higher
rate of self-reported hypertension, the treatment rate was similar
to that found in men. This may have been due to the fact that
some of the women had a history of hypertension in pregnancy.
The prevalence of metabolic disorders was as follows: diabetes
2.5%, hypertriglycerideaemia 1.9%, low HDL-C 43.1%, general
obesity 3.9% and abdominal obesity 14.7%.
In Table 3, there was a clustering of risk factors, especially
hypertension, diabetes, lipid abnormalities and abdominal obes-
ity within the 35 to 44, and 45 to 54 years age groups of our
sample. The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 1.7% and phys-
ical inactivity was 3.2%. Cigarette smoking and physical inactiv-
ity were found in the younger and older age groups, respectively.
Smoking was the main form of tobacco use in Egbeda and this
was found in men only, with a prevalence of less than 1.7%. Most
smoked fewer than five cigarettes daily. Women used smokeless
tobacco with a prevalence of 0.6%.
TABLE 1. DISTRIBUTION OF SELECTED CARDIO-
METABOLIC RISK FACTORS IN THE STUDY POPULATION
Variables
Mean
SD
Age (years)
42.1
21.6
Body mass index (kg/m
2
)
Men
22.8
7.9
Women
25.6
11.3
Waist circumference (cm)
Men
87.1
20.2
Women
89.5
18.4
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)
132.9
35.1
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)
81.6
22.3
Fasting blood glucose (mg/dl)
115.8
51.7
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)
162.1
53.6
Triglycerides (mg/dl)
139.7
62.2
HDL-C (mg/dl)
42.3
9.5
LDL-C (mg/dl)
110.3
43.8
In this study, almost all responders admitted consumption of
fruit on most days of the week and vegetables on a daily basis
but this was found to be less than the recommended daily intake
(82.9% consumed less than three helpings of fruit/vegetables
daily). This was due mainly to affordability and the expression
of fear of frequent bowel motions by some.
Table 4 shows the prevalence of multiple cardiometabolic
risk factors by age in the study population. Overall, 12.9% of the
subjects were found to have at least one CVD risk factor, 8.6%
had two risk factors, 3.0% had three and 1.3% had four or more
risk factors.
Using the ATP III criteria, the prevalence of BP
≥
130/85
mmHg was 39.2% [higher in men (42.3%) than in women
(36.8%)], waist circumference
>
88 cm in women and
>
102 cm
in men was 6.2%, blood glucose
≥
110 mg/dl was 5.0%, HDL-C
<
40 mg/dl in men and
<
50 mg/dl in women was 43.1% and
triglyceride
≥
150 mg/dl was 1.9%. According to this guideline,
TABLE 2. PREVALENCE OF SELECTED CARDIO-
METABOLIC RISK FACTORS IN MALESAND
FEMALES IN THE STUDY POPULATION
Risk factor
Men
(
n
=
873)
%
Women
(
n
=
1127)
%
Overall
(
n
=
2000)
%
Blood pressure
≥
130/85 mmHg* (369) 42.3 (415) 36.8 (784) 39.2
Hypertension (
≥
140/90mmHg)
(184) 21.1 (231) 20.5 (415) 20.8
Newly diagnosed
(163) 88.6 (193) 83.5 (356) 85.8
Self reported
(21) 11.4 (38) 16.5 (59) 14.2
Receiving treatment past 3 months (4) 19.0 (7) 18.4 (11) 18.6
Blood glucose
≥
110 mg/dl*
(32) 3.7 (68) 6.0 (100) 5.0
Diabetes
(18) 2.1 (31) 2.8 (49) 2.5
Newly diagnosed
(7) 38.9 (6) 19.4 (13) 26.5
Self reported
(11) 61.1 (25) 80.6 (36) 73.5
Receiving treatment past 3 months (5) 45.4 (8) 32.0 (13) 36.1
Total cholesterol
≥
200 mg/dl
(25) 2.9 (38) 3.4 (63) 3.2
LDL-C
≥
130 mg/dl
(9) 1.0 (8) 0.7 (17) 0.9
HDL-C
<
40 mg/dl (men)*
or
<
50 mg/dl (women)*
(345) 39.5 (517) 45.9 (862) 43.1
Triglyceride
≥
150 mg/dl*
(16) 1.8 (21) 1.9 (37) 1.9
BMI (kg/m
2
)
<
18.5
(560) 64.1 (658) 58.4 (1218) 60.9
18.5–24.9
(283) 32.4 (421) 37.4 (704) 35.2
25–29.9
(l7) 1.9 (21) 1.8 (38) 1.9
≥
30
(13) 1.5 (27) 2.4 (40) 2.0
Waist circumference
Normal (
<
80 cm women,
<
94 cm men)
(762) 87.3 (944) 83.7 (1706) 86.5
Increased risk (80–88 cm women,
94–102 cm men)
(79) 9.0 (91) 8.1 (170) 8.5
Substantially increased risk
(> 88 cm women, > 102 cm men)* (23) 2.6 (101) 8.9 (124) 6.2
Tobacco use
Current smokers
(33) 3.8 (0) 0.0 (33) 1.7
Current smokeless products
(0) 0.0 (12) 1.1 (12) 0.6
Family history of MI
(0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0
Family history of stroke
(37) 4.2 (56) 5.0 (93) 4.7
Physical inactivity
(12) 1.4 (52) 4.6 (64) 3.2
Diet
<
3 servings of fruit/vegetables
daily
(785) 89.9 (872) 77.3 (1657) 82.9
*ATP III criteria
