Prevalence of main cardiovascular risk factors in women from Biscay

The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of principal cardiovascular risk factors in the female population from Biscay (northern Spain). We selected a random representative sample of 1,317 women aged between 16 and 65 years from this province. For each participant we recorded the following parameters: weight and height, physical activity, smoking, blood pressure, glycemia, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. A total of 1,100 women (mean age 39.83 14 years) participated. Regarding physical activity, 31.9% of the women had a sedentary lifestyle and 48.4% did not exercise during leisure time. The prevalence of smoking was 31.9%. We found a mean body mass index of 24.9 4.6 kg/m2, and 42.4% of the women were overweight. The prevalence of hypertension was 13.1%, hypertension being defined as a mean systolic blood pressure > or = 160 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure > or = 95 mmHg, current antihypertensive treatment, or any combination of these criteria. When a cutoff value of > or = 140/90 mmHg was used, the prevalence increased to 26.7%. Total cholesterol values were > or = 240 mg/dl in 26.2%, triglyceride levels were > or = 200 mg/dl in 2.6%, LDL-cholesterol was > or = 160 mg/dl in 26.8%, and HDL-cholesterol values were < 45 mg/dl in 12.2%. The prevalence of hyperglycemia was 3.3%. The prevalences of main cardiovascular risk factors were similar to those in other Spanish studies. Except for smoking, the rest of these risk factors increased with age. Long-term measures should be adopted to modify dietary habits and lifestyles to obtain improvements in the cardiovascular risk profile.