Prevention of chronic diseases in middle-age women: a cross-sectional study on an Italian large sample

Abstract Background The age around 50 years represents a crucial point for women: menopause leads to biological changes and it begins breast and colon-rectal cancer screening. This study aimed at assessing frequencies of cardiovascular risk factors and analyzing participation in screening and vaccination. Methods In 2017, a cross-sectional study was performed in Northern Italy. Totally, 12 249 women, aged between 50 and 54 years, were enrolled by General Practitioners (GPs). It was used a 21-item form, with information about: socio-demographic, anamnestic and clinical data, execution of a booster shot of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine in the last decade and of PAP-test, mammography and faecal occult blood test in the last 2 years. Descriptive and crosstab χ2 analyses were performed with STATA MP13. The significance level was P ≤ 0.05. Results Our findings showed the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity (10.95%), hypertension (13.76%), hyperlipidaemia (11.57%), glycaemia ≥ 100 mg dl−1 (16.97%), poor physical activity (73.49%), smoking (18.28%), cardiovascular family history (FH) (51.70%). There were a lower participation in colo-rectal cancer screening (45.09%) compared with breast (85.06%) and cervical (77.16%) cancer screening and an insufficient Tdap booster dose compliance (17.56%). Chi-square analyses showed correlations between cardiovascular FH and body mass index, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, glycaemia and smoking, and between cancer FH and participation in breast and colo-rectal cancer screening (P < 0.05). Conclusions Women with cardiovascular disease FH represent a priority target of educational interventions considering the prevalence of concomitant risk factors. Programmes aimed at increasing screening and vaccination participation should be implemented.