Coronary heart disease and coronary risk factor prevalence in rural Rajasthan

To determine the prevalence of coronary risk factors and coronary heart disease (CHD) in rural Rajasthan, 1150 randomly selected individuals in a cluster of villages in central Rajasthan have been studied. These included 805 men and 345 women. The prevalence of various coronary risk factors in the whole group were: Smoking 488 (42.4%); Diabetes (history): 5(0.4%); Alcohol intake: 146 (12.7%); Sedentary lifestyle: 797 (69.3%); Stressful life events: 48 (4.2%); Hypertension (BP > or = 140/90) 152 (13.2%); obesity (BMI > or = 27 Kg/M2): 194 (10.9%); and Truncal obesity (waist:hip > or = 0.93): 20.8%. The overall prevalence of CHD was 46.1/1000. Patients with CHD had a higher prevalence of male sex (67.9 vs 51.5%); educated persons (30.2 vs 28.8%); businessmen (13.2 vs 10.2%); smoking (47.2 vs 40.5%); sedentary lifestyle (75.5 vs 62.3%); stressful life events (7.5 vs 4.8%); and hypertension (26.4 vs 14.8%). On the other hand, persons without CHD had higher prevalence of alcohol intake (10.8 vs 7.5%); regular prayers (23.1 vs 22.6%); physically active lifestyle (37.7 vs 24.5%); obesity (13.6 vs 6.9%), and truncal obesity (21.0 vs 20.0%). The following risk factors emerged significant on statistical analysis (Odds ratio, 95% confidence intervals): male sex (1.99, 1.04 to 3.7); hypertension (2.04, 1.01 to 4.09); male smokers (1.80, 1.28 to 4.09); and sedentary lifestyle (1.86, 1.01 to 3.59). This study shows a low prevalence of CHD in rural population which is however more than previously reported studies from India.