Factores de riesgo cardiovascular en trabajadores administrativos del País Vasco

Zusammenfassung

Although risk factors have been extensively studied, cardiovascular diseases are an important problem in occupational health. Objective: Evaluation of cardiovascular risk factors in office workers from the Basque Country. Methodology: 639 office workers from several local administrations of the territory of Vizcaya (Basque Country, Spain) were selected for this study. Data from smoking habit, body mass index, blood pressure, and plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and tryglicerides were obtained from regular medical explorations carried out by occupational medical services, and the influence of age and gender was posteriorly evaluated. Results: Higher values in every variable studied were registered in men, with respect to women. Overweight and obesity, prevalence of high blood pressure, and the numbers of subjects with elevated plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol, LDL­cholesterol and tryglicerides increased with age. Overweight, obesity, high blood pressure, and elevated plasma levels of glucose anel cholesterol were more frequent in these workers, with respect to normal population of the Basque Country. Conclusions: These results suggest that administrative workers from Vizcaya, particularly men, show a high cardiovascular risk, increasing with age, which is higher than that expected for normal population of the Basque Country. Thus, preventive programs (diet modification, physical exercise) are needed in these workers.