Introduction and objectives: The Spanish province of Cádiz has some of the poorest socioeconomic conditions and the highest cardiovascular morbidity and mortality rates in the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the adult population of the city of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz.
Methods: This cross-sectional population-based study involved 858 randomly selected individuals aged 50-75 years. Age- and sex-adjusted prevalences of the main cardiovascular risk factors were obtained.
Results: The mean age of the study population was 61.5 years and 53.6% were women. Overall, 46% of men and 61.7% of women were illiterate; 23.7% and 7.9%, respectively, were current smokers; 30.9% and 44.8% had a sedentary lifestyle; 54% and 55.9% were obese; 29.4% and 26.1% had diabetes; 45% and 52.4% had hypertension; 40.9% and 45.1% had hypercholesterolemia; and 58.8% and 57% had metabolic syndrome as defined by NCEP/ATP-III criteria. The prevalence of all cardiovascular risk factors, except smoking, increased with age. Significant inverse associations were observed between educational level and obesity in men and between educational level and diabetes and metabolic syndrome in women.
Conclusions: The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in individuals aged 50-75 years in Sanlúcar de Barrameda was extremely high. The prevalences of obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome were among the highest ever reported in Spain. A very low educational level may underlie these adverse findings.