Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk Using Who/Ish Risk Prediction Charts among Adult Population In a Rural Area in Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu

Back ground Cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and a blood vessel, including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, and other conditions. In 2019, 17.9 million deaths occurred globally due to CVD. Therefore measures have to be taken to identify people at risk for developing CVD/s at an early stage. Aim & Objective To assess the prevalence of CVD risk factors and to estimate the cardiovascular risk among adults aged >40 years, using the WHO/ISH risk charts. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 252 individuals who attended the Non-communicable Disease (NCD) clinic at the Rural Health Training Center (RHTC) of a Tertiary Care Private Medical College from January 2020 to March 2020. Individuals aged 40-79 years old attending the NCD clinic were included. Color-coded; WHO/ISH charts for the South East Asia sub-region-D were used to predict the 10-year absolute risk of a major cardiovascular event. Descriptive statistics were computed for various risk factors of CVD and also background variables. A chi-square test was done to assess the association between various risk factors and 10 years risk of CVD. Multiple logistic regression analysis determined the independent risk factors influencing CVD risk. Results: In our study, 252 participants attending NCD clinic were enrolled. The mean age of the participants was 56.4± 9.43 years. 46 (18.3%) participants belonged to the high-risk CVD group (Risk ≥ 20%). Male gender, smoking status, abdominal obesity, stress, and BMI >30 Kg/m2 were significantly associated with high CVD risk [P-value <0.05]. After adjusting for confounding, abdominal obesity and Body Mass Index (BMI) >30 Kg/m2 were significantly associated with high CVD risk. Conclusions: Nearly 1/5th of the participants attending the NCD screening clinic belong to the high-risk CVD group. The majority of the risk factors found in high-risk group were modifiable and hence burden of these risk factors can be reduced by behavioural change communication which in turn reduces the incidence of CVD in the future.