Prevalence and determinants of cardiovascular risk factors in Lesotho: a population-based survey.

Abstract

Background: There are no recent data on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVDRFs) in Lesotho. This study aims to assess the prevalence of CVDRFs and their determinants.

Methods: We conducted a household-based, cross-sectional survey among adults ≥18 y of age in 120 randomly sampled clusters in two districts.

Results: Among 6061 participants, 52.2% were female and their median age was 39 y (interquartile range 27-58). The overall prevalence of overweight, diabetes, elevated blood pressure (BP) and tobacco use was 39.9%, 5.3%, 21.6% and 24.9%, respectively. Among participants, 34.6% had none, 45.2% had one and 20.2% had two or more CVDRFs. Women were more likely to have two or more CVDRFs (20.7% vs 12.3%). Overall, 7.5% of participants had elevated total cholesterol, 52.7% had low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and 1.6% had elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Among younger participants (18-29 y), 16.1% reported tobacco use, 28.6% were overweight, 1.5% had diabetes and 3.5% had elevated BP. Household wealth positively correlated with the prevalence of elevated BP, overweight and diabetes, whereas tobacco use was higher among people in the lowest three wealth quintiles.

Conclusions: CVDRFs are highly prevalent in Lesotho across age and sex groups, underlining the importance of strengthening prevention and care programs in Lesotho and similar settings in southern Africa.