Twice as many men as women had a higher than 10% risk of developing heart disease over 10 years, the researchers said. Image for representation purposes only. File
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An ICMR-led study, which estimated the risk of adults in India developing heart disease over a 10-year period, found that those unemployed were at a significantly higher risk, followed by those having high blood sugar levels.
Researchers analysed nearly 4,500 adults aged 40-69 years, about half of whom were younger (40-49 years old). Data was collected using surveys and questionnaires, including those developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), such as for gauging one’s physical activity levels.
Among the study group, about 85% were at a very low-to-low chance of developing cardiovascular diseases, while about 14.5% and 1% were at a moderate and high-to-very high chance of developing these conditions, respectively, they found.
Twice as many men as women had a higher than 10% risk of developing heart disease over 10 years, the researchers, including those from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research, Bengaluru, found.
A very low-to-low chance meant less than 10% risk of experiencing heart-related diseases, while moderate and high-to-very high chance indicated 10-20% and over 20% likelihood, respectively, according to the study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
Among the participants having high blood sugar levels, women had an 85% increased risk of getting heart conditions over 10 years, while men were at a 77% higher risk, the researchers estimated.
They also said that among the participants who were obese, women and men had a 71% and a 55% higher chance of developing heart conditions, respectively, compared to those who were not obese.
The researchers also found that the participants living in urban areas were at a higher risk of heart diseases, with 17.5% having more than 10% risk, compared to 13.8% of those living in rural places. About two-thirds of the study group was from rural backgrounds.
Further, urban women participants had an 86% higher probability of having elevated 10-year CVD risk than rural women participants, the authors said.
However, the researchers found that the unemployed participants were at a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular diseases compared to the employed ones or homemakers.
“While 87-88% of the latter two groups had a low risk of (cardiovascular diseases), only 54% of the unemployed population had a low risk,” the authors wrote.
They said that previous studies assessing cardiovascular disease risk in India were conducted using geographically localised samples and, therefore, a national estimate was missing.
This study was the first one to estimate risk in India using the non-laboratory-based WHO charts, the team said.
