Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in semi-rural area in Senegal

Objectives: We aim to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the semi-rural population of the community of Gueoul in Senegal. Patients and method: This is a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study. We conducted an exhaustive survey in 2012 according to the STEPS wise approach of the world health organization against Senegalese aged of 35 years and over who resided for at least 6 months in semi-rural area in the community of Gueoul. Pregnant women were excluded. Classical cardiovascular risk factors were collected and data analyzed using SPSS 18.0 software. The significance level was agreed for a value of P < 0.05. Results: We examined 1411 subjects (1052 women) with a mean age of 48.5 ± 12.68 years. The main cardiovascular risk factors were dyslipidemia (61,1%), physical inactivity (56.2%), abdominal obesity according to the International Diabetes Federation (53.9%), hypertension (46.4%), global obesity (13%), diabetes (7.2%) and smoking (2.5%). Hypertension was significantly associated with diabetes (P = 0.001), abdominal obesity (P = 0.001) and global obesity (P = 0.0001). Sedentarity (P = 0.001), global obesity (P = 0.0001) and hypertension (P = 0.001) were more frequent in women. Conclusion: Cardiovascular risk factors are frequent and often associated in semi-rural area of Senegal, particularly in women. This condition should lead to develop prevention strategies of cardiovascular complications.