Multiple cardiometabolic risk factors in the Southern Cone of Latin America: A population-based study in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay

Abstract

Background Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death, and its mortality is increasing in Latin America. However, population-based data on cardiovascular disease risk factors are sparse in these countries. Methods A total of 7,524 men and women, aged 35 to 74 years old, were recruited between February 2010 and December 2011 from randomly selected samples in 4 cities (Bariloche and Marcos Paz, Argentina; Temuco, Chile; and Pando-Barros Blancos, Uruguay) in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Cardiovascular risk factors were measured using standard methods by trained and certified observers. Results Approximately 85.5% of adults ate less than five servings of fruit or vegetables per day, 35.2% engaged in low physical activity, and 29.7% currently smoked cigarettes. The prevalences of obesity, central obesity, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome were 35.7%, 52.9%, 40.8%, 2.0%, 58.4%, 12.4%, and 37.4%, respectively. The proportion of individuals with ≥3 cardiovascular risk factors, including low intake of fruit and vegetables, low physical activity, current cigarette smoking, obesity or central obesity, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, was 68.3%, and the proportion of individual with ≥3 cardiometabolic risk factors, including obesity or central obesity, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, was 22.9%. Conclusions Cardiovascular disease risk factors are highly prevalent in the general population in the Southern Cone of Latin America. These data suggest that national efforts on the prevention, treatment, and control of cardiovascular risk factors should be a public health priority in the Southern Cone of Latin America.

Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases and Multimorbidity in a Primary Care Context of Central Argentina: A Web-Based Interactive and Cross-Sectional Study

“…Besides that, central obesity was detected in more than half of the participants. With regard to these risk factors, our results are more similar to the findings of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) living in North America [50] and to a recent study conducted in the Southern cone of Latin America [51]. Our results suggest that this population is in need of effective public health interventions to manage obesity and prevent further increases of obesity-associated diseases including diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and other CVDs.…”

“…Similar results with regard to BMI were found in other studies where men showed higher prevalence of overweight and obesity [47,65]. The study of Rubinstein et al, (2015), in the Southern cone of Latin America, reported that women showed higher prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity, risky LDL-C, and MS compared with men [51]. In our study, men showed unhealthier lifestyle habits than women, namely alcohol intake and low consumption of fruit and vegetables.…”

“…Characteristics associated with gender, age, level of education, employment status, and marital status were examined in recent PHC studies [23,24,25,26,27,28,51]. Consideration of these aspects might be especially relevant in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where socioeconomic and cultural inequities may predispose the conditions for the establishment of several risk factors associated with chronic diseases and multimorbidity [51,53,54,55]. In our study, certain groups of participants with common sociodemographic characteristics were identified.…”

Prevalence, Patterns, and Correlates of Physical Activity Among the Adult Population in Latin America: Cross-Sectional Results from the CESCAS I Study

“…A detailed description of the study population and design has been presented elsewhere. 15 Briefly, the CESCAS I study used a 4-stage multistage random sample of a general population of 7,524 adults aged 35–74 years from four mid-sized cities in Argentina (Bariloche and Marcos Paz), Chile (Temuco) and Uruguay (Canelones-Barros Blancos). In the first stage, census radii were randomly selected from each of the four locations, stratified by socio-economic level.…”

Using mHealth tools to improve access, coverage and treatment of uninsured people with high cardiovascular disease risk in Argentina: a study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomised trial

“…Like other low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), Argentina’s systemic challenges to improving the detection and management of CVD include low rates of awareness, shortages of trained healthcare workers to provide services, overcrowded primary care centres (PCCs) and overall lack of resources in healthcare systems 3. Hypertension, one of the primary, modifiable risk factors for CVD, has been shown to be controlled for only 20% of Argentinians 4. In order to reduce the CVD burden in Argentina through programmes such as REDES, a high priority is to determine ways to increase screening in community settings along with efficient referral to PCCs for proper management of the disease, using task-shifting5 and mHealth technologies 6…”