Social determinants of cardiovascular health among Oranese women (ISOR Study)

Introduction - Cardiovascular diseases, which are related to changes in lifestyle, arethe leading cause of death in the world. At the same time, it appears that these di-seases are associated with socio-cultural determinants and there are risk gradientsdepending on the socio-economic level. On the other hand, the risk is unequal in bothgenders. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cardiovascular health amongwomen in Oran.Patients and methods - A cross-sectional study was carried out between 2007 and2009, on a sample of 787 subjects, including 409 women, aged 30-64 years. The sub-jects, randomly selected from the list of insured persons residing in Oran city, par-ticipated in a clinical, anthropometric and biological survey. Cardiovascular healthwas assessed on the following risk factors: body and abdominal obesity, diabetes, highblood pressure, increased blood fats and metabolic syndrome defined according to theNCEP-ATPIII criteria.Results - It appears that 44% of women are uneducated or of primary level and 62%are unemployed. A total of 79% had low or no daily physical activity, 32.5% were obese,19.6% were hypertensive, and 9.7% had diabetes. Finally, it appears also that 30% ofwomen are at risk of cardiovascular disease. This risk is increased two fold higher inunemployed women. Women with a high level of education (academic or professional)are better protected than women with low level of education .Conclusion - Notwithstanding the general preventive actions on physical activity andbalanced diet, it becomes clear that promoting women’s status through education andaccess to employment will help to improve their health.