Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Military Personnel in Southern Iran

Background: The incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is rapidly increasing at an alarming rate worldwide and is currently considered as the leading cause of death in both developing and developed countries. The aim of the present study is to determine the prevalence and clear analysis of cardiovascular risk factors among army population and provide a guideline for improving the health status of army personnel. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among 341 male subjects from a military population in southern Iran. Each eligible participant was evaluated in the military clinic in Shiraz, Southern Iran. Information regarding demographic and life style were obtained from each subject. Arterial blood pressure, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC), fasting blood glucose, lipid profile consisting of total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglyceride were measured by standard methods. Results: Mean age of the population under study was 35.1±7.5 years. Twenty-nine (8.8%) individuals were hypertensive whereas 108 (32.9%) had blood pressure in the range of pre-hypertension. According to laboratory investigations, 29 (8.5%) participants had glucose intolerance while 6 (1.8%) of them had diabetes mellitus. On the other hand, prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia were 104 (30.5%) and 114 (33.4%) respectively. Twenty-eight (8.2%) subjects had criteria for metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Clinical and Para-clinical data indicated that army population in southern Iran had a low level of CVD risk factors that may be related to their life styles.