Cardiovascular Diseases in Relation to Anthropometric, Biochemical and Dietary Intake in Women: A Case Control Study

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases in women are increasing at an alarming rate but very little attention has been given due to economic and socio-cultural reasons. A study was un- dertaken to examine the relationship between cardiovascular diseases and nutritional status in Pakistani women. Methods: A case-control study was carried out in the Outpatients department (OPD) of the Cardiology Unit, Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The inclusion criteria for selection of cases were females having complaints of myocardial infarction and free from all other infectious and chronic diseases. Forty three cases and 43 con- trols were selected for the study. Subjects were interviewed for their medical history, dietary in- take demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Weight, height measurements and blood samples from both the cases and controls were taken for assessing their nutritional status. Data were analyzed using Student's t-test, Chi-square test, univariate and multivariate unconditional logistic regression to study the relationship between different variables. Results: The results revealed that the cases had a significantly (p 0.05) differences in the mean weight, height, BMI, serum ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations between the cases and controls. High prevalence of overweight and obesity was found in both cases (67.4%) and controls (81.4%). Cases had a significantly lower mean dietary energy, protein, carbohydrates, and fat intake than the controls but there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the mean iron intake between the cases and controls. Results of logistic regression showed no significant association between the dependent (CVD) and independent variables (age, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, exercise, family history, family type, family size, haemoglobin, ferritin, carbohydrates and protein). Conclusions: The study does not reveal significant relationship between the CVDs and nutri - tional status. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in women was found to be alarmingly high and needs to be addressed by appropriate interventions to prevent the incidence of meta- bolic syndromes and chronic diseases in population.