The co-occurrence of cardiovascular risk factors is usually associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of the co-occurrence and its determinants and to identify the clustering profiles of lifestyle risk factors among the adult population in Burkina Faso. Among 4692 participants, 4377 adults from the first STEPS survey conducted in Burkina Faso were considered in this analysis. Four lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake and low physical activity) were analysed. The clustering was evaluated using the observed/expected (O/E) ratio approach. To identify the determinants of co-occurrence, we performed a modified Poisson regression. The prevalence of the co-occurrence of two or more cardiovascular lifestyle risk factors was 46.4% (95% CI: 43.1-49.7). The main determinants of the co-occurrence were being male (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR): 1.27 (95% CI: 1.16-1.38)), advanced age (55-64 years old: aPR: 1.45 (95% CI: 1.31-1.60)) and a high level of education (aPR: 1.29 (95% CI: 1.09-1.52)). The clustering profile for lifestyle risk factors was tobacco consumption combined with alcohol consumption (O/E: 2.77 (95% CI: 2.12-3.56)), and concurrent involvement in all four lifestyle risk factors (O/E = 1.51 (95% CI: 1.19-1.89)). This first population-based report on the co-occurrence of lifestyle risk factors calls for action to tailor health-promoting interventions to increase healthy lifestyle behaviors. The identified CVD-risk clustering should be considered as an important step in this strategy development in Burkina Faso.
Keywords: Burkina Faso; cardiovascular lifestyles risk factors; clustering; co-occurrence.