Prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a rural community in West Bengal, India

Background: In rural India, only a few studies have been undertaken to investigate the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Most of the studies carried out on the urban population. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of CVD risk factors in a rural community in West Bengal, India. Materials and Methods: A total of 1007 (645 males and 362 females) participants aged 20 years and above took part in the present study. Various anthropometric measures were undertaken using standard techniques. Metabolic profiles were measured using an auto-analyzer. Blood pressure (BP) was recorded according to standard protocol. Insulin was also measured, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance was calculated accordingly. Results: The anthropometric measures are almost equal in male and female except SF4 and percentage of body fat, which are more in the female. It is observed that 52.53% population have high BP, 45.58% have high triglyceride (TG), 23.14% have high fasting blood glucose (FBG), 11.22% have high total cholesterol (TC), and 11.62% have low high-density lipoprotein (HDL). High TC is found more in female, but high TG, high FBG, and high BP are more in male, and low HDL is found almost equal in male and female. The prevalence of three CVD risk factors clustering is also significant in male and female. Conclusion: The present study showed that prevalence of CVD risk factors is considerably high in the study population and warranted early intervention to check progressive increase of CVD risk factors in the rural folk.