Resumen de Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Rural Community from North Romania Region

Irina Iuliana Costache, Egidia Miftode, Ovidiu Mitu, Viviana Aursulesei

• The prevalence of coronary heart disease is higher in men but the prevalence of stroke and the annual number of cardiovascular deaths are higher in women. Despite these findings, the cardiovascular risk in the female population is still underestimated. The present study aimed to identify cardiovascular risk factors and correlations with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in 285 patients from a rural community in Romania, aged between 26-92 years, 187 (65,6%) females, 98 (34,4%) males, in order to establish gender differences. Traditional risk factors were assessed. We used descriptive statistic methods to calculate the average and standard deviation of the assessed parameters. Divided by gender, the cardiovascular risk factors presented important differences. Almost all cardiovascular risk factors were more importantly represented in the female group: type 2 diabetes mellitus (73.0%), chronic stress (70.0%), family history of cardiovascular disease (57.0%). Obesity was frequent in females but with no statistical difference. Of all the women, 57.9% had arterial hypertension compared to men (27.7%) the statistical significance being almost insignificant (p = 0.052). Women had 4.3 times greater odds of obesity, 14.2 fold increased odds for abdominal adiposity, 2.8 times greater odds of high waist-hip-ratio and more than three-fold greater odds of having metabolic syndrome (p = 0.001). Among men, BMI and waist circumference were significantly correlated with blood pressure, triglycerides, total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol and fasting glucose; in women, only blood pressure was positively associated with BMI and waist circumference. Further studies are needed to establish the correlation between gender and cardiovascular risk factors.