Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among Chilean employees

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of death in Chile and there is a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the population. Aim: To assess the prevalence of those risk factors in a group of employees. Subjects and methods: We studied 2,219 individuals, 1378 males with a mean age of 462 +/- 10.4 years and 841 females with a median age of 41.9 +/- 10.3 years. Results: High blood pressure was observed in 39.7% of men and in 21.8% of women. A serum cholesterol between 200 and 239 mg/dl was observed ill 38% of men. and 31.3% of women. A cholesterol over this value was seen in 23.7% of men. and 18.8% of women. A low proportion of those with high blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol, were under treatment. Prevalence of smoking was high in men and women: 43.5 and 48.9.2%, respectively. Eighty four percent of men and 61.3% of women over 54 years were overweight or obese. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 4.5%. Twenty percent of men and 13% of women exercised regularly at least 3 times a week. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of untreated cardiovascular risk factors in this population.