Cardiovascular Risk Factor Profile among Public Servants in a Developing Country: A Look at the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in a Nigerian University Community

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are surreptitiously increasing in developing countries unlike the declining trend in the developed world. Screening for risk factors is vital for early detection and control of these diseases. The University community; being compositely mixed, forms a handy surrogate for such latitudinal study in the general population of any community. Objective: To determine the cardiovascular risk factor profile among workers in a federal government University in South East, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Blood pressure, obesity indices, fasting blood lipid and glucose were done, relevant questionnaire administered and the data analyzed using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. Results: Among the participants, 29.7% had metabolic syndrome (33.1% females; 23.9% males) and for the individual risk factors: Abdominal Obesity; 42.7%, Hyperglycemia; 20.3%, Hypertension; 43.2%, High triglycerides; 11.5%, “Low” High Density Lipoprotein (HDL); 66.0%, Tobacco smoking; 2.1%. Mean age and mean blood pressure were significantly higher in males while total cholesterol was significantly higher in the females. Among the sexes and the workers, the higher prevalence of the parameters occurred thus: Females (abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia, and low HDL); Males (age, hypertension (HBP) and hypertriglyceridemia (high TG); senior staff (abdominal obesity, hypertension and low high density lipoprotein (HDL)); Junior staff (hyperglycemia and high Tg). High BP, high triglycerides and low HDL occurred mostly in the age group 40- 49 years. Metabolic syndrome increased with BMI and age.In all groupings of age and BP, both increased in females but not in males. Conclusion: Metabolic risk indices are prevalent among University workers in South East Nigeria.