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Coronary heart disease and stroke are
the leading cause of mortality and
disability in Sri Lanka [1]. It is well
established that South Asians including
us are at higher risk for cardiovascular
diseases than any other ethnic group in
the world [2]. The rate of increase of
this group of diseases in developing
countries is almost double when
compared to developed countries [3].
And younger people are more affected
than their counterparts in developed
world [4].
It is critically important to ensuring
working young adult population
healthy devoid of risk factors in order
to contain the epidemic of myocardial
infarction and stroke in Sri Lanka.
However, evidence on the prevalence
of cardiovascular risk factors in
working Sri Lankan population is not
available to date.
Objective:
To estimate prevalence of selected
common risk factors in a sample of
apparently health employees recruited
to the HEMAS Corporate Wellness
Program
Discussion
Two third of our study population
were males 40 years or younger.
There were two most critical facts
evident from this study.
The first was that almost all with
higher values in all parameters
were identified for the first time.
The second was that the proportion
of “probably hypertensives” shot up
from 3% to 46% when they passes
the 40 years of age.
Another important finding was that
5% were at “high risk” of impending
coronary heart disease since their
cholesterol/HDL ratio was above 6.
Prevalence of Cardiovascular risk factors among Sri Lankan private
sector employees: A cross-sectional study from the “HEMAS
corporate wellness program”
Prasantha De Silva, Linusha Ratnayake, Prabhan Gunawardene, Samanthi De Silva, Hasanthi Theodore, Chamath Soyza, HEMAS Hospital, Wattala
Bibliography
Of all employees, 83% were
males[Table 1] and 75% were aged 40
years and younger [Table 2]. We found
that their Body Mass Index >25 as
45%, Fasting blood Sugar above 110
mg/dl as 9.4%, High blood pressure >
120/90 as12.1%, total cholesterol
>240mg/dl[5%], LDL > 160mg/dl as
15.2%, HDL below 40mg/dl as19.6%,
cholesterol/HDL ratio > 6 as5% [Table
3]. It was noted that while high blood
pressure among those 40 years and
below was 3%, those aged above 40, it
was 46% [Table 4].
The prevalence of selected risk factors for
coronary heart disease is high among
private sector employees. It ranges from
9.4% to 45%. At least, five percent of
them need immediate attention due to
very high risk for impending myocardial
infarction. Those above 40 years may
need screening for these risk factors as a
routine.
Introduction
Results
After signing of an agreement by both
parties, the corporate partner and
ourselves, following steps were taken
based on our wellness model: an
initial health awareness session,
individual screening for fasting blood
sugar, lipid profile together with other
range of bio-metrics, one-to-one
consultation, follow-up, appraisal and
summary reports.
The following results are based on
data belonging to 1277 private sector
employees of 10 companies from
Colombo, Puttalam and Galle.
Table 3 – Percentages of selected risk factors among employees
45
9.4
12.1
15.2
19.6
14.4
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
BMI>25 FBS>110 BP>120/90 LDL>160mg/dl HDL<40mg/dl total cho>240mg/dl cho/hdl>6
83
17
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
male female
Conclusion
1.Annual Health Bulletin, 2013 Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka
2. Nag T. Ghosh A. Cardiovascular disease risk factors in Asian Population. A
systematic review. Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research 4 (2013) 222-228.
3. Gaziano TA 2005. Cardiovascular disease in the developing world and its cost-
effective management. Circulation. 2005. 112;3547-3553.
4. Reddy KS. Yusuf S. 1998. Emerging epidemic of cardiovascular disease in
developing countries. Circulation 1998;97:596-601.
75
25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
40 and below 41 and above
3
46
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
40yrs and below 41yrs and above
Method
Table 1 – Percentages of sex distribution of employees
Table 2 – Percentages of age distribution of employees
Table 4 – Percentages of selected risk factors among employees