ORIGINALS. Estudio epidemiológico sobre la prevalencia de los principales factores de riesgo cardiovascular en Tarragona.

espanolObjetivo: Conocer la prevalencia de los principales factores de riesgo cardiovascular en las comarcas tarraconenses del Alt Camp y Conca de Barber. Material y metodos: Estudio descriptivo observacional transversal, de base poblacional realizado desde mayo 1991 a abril 1992, mediante un cuestionario aplicado a 830 personas de 0-90 anos de ambas comarcas, es- cogidas de los diferentes padrones municipales segun un muestreo aleatorio bictapico. Las variables de estudio fueron edad, sexo, peso, talla, generandose el indice de masa corporal (peso/talla2); asimismo, se pregunto si presentaban tabaquismo, hipertension, diabetes y hipercolesterolemia. Se efectuo un tratamiento estadistico de tipo descriptivo y la significacion se analizo con prueba de x2, considerando diferencias significativas si p Resultados: Un 24.5% (21.5-27.5%) de las personas encuestadas declaro fumar, un 15.3% (12.7-17.9%) declaro padecer hipertension, un 7.7% (5.9- 9.5%) hipercolesterolemia, un 7.5% obesidad (5.8-9.6%) y un 4,8% (3.4- 6.2%) diabetes. La prevalencia de diabeticos, dislipemicos, hipertensos y obesos es significativamente superior a partir de los 40 anos. En cambio, la prevalencia de tabaquismo es superior 42.8% (38-48.6%) en el grupo de edad entre los 15 y los 39 anos. Conclusiones: Los resultados obtenidos son similares a los registrados en otros estudios en que el instrumento de medida es diferente. Dado el diseno del estudio, pensamos que confiere al trabajo un indudable valor como indicador de frecuencia con que nuestra poblacion padece estos problemas de salud. EnglishObjective: In this paper we describe the prevalence of the main cardiovascular risk factors in the areas of Alt Camp and Conca de Barber;, in the province of Tarragona. Methods: A cross-sectional poblational survey is made since May 1991 till April 1992. We took a randomized and representative sample of 830 people aged from O to 90 years who where asked about several health problems that have been affecting them for the last year by means of a domiciliary inquiry. The variables of the study were age, sex, weight, getting a new one called body mass index. We also asked them about smoking, hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Descriptive statistics and khi square test were used. Results: A 24.5% (21.5-27.5%) of the inquired people referred to smoke, a 15.3% (12.7-17.9%) stated to have arterial hypertension, 7.7% (5.9-9.5%) hypercholesterolemia, 7.5% (5.8-9.6%) obesity and 4.8% (3.4-6.2%) diabetes. People elder than forty have got higher prevalences of diabetes, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. However, the prevalence of smokers is higher in people aged 15-39 years 42.8% (37-48.6%). Conclusion: The results we have obtained in our study are very similar to the reported in other studies with different measure designs. But we think that the metodology used to build this study makes it more useful as a frequency parameter of health problems.