Backgrounds: Few studies have been reported whether the socioeconomic status is related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by use of multiple-risk-factor assessment equations among Korean adults.
Objectives: To identify global risk assessment scores for CVD using national representative data for Korean adults and to examine socioeconomic factors predicting relative risk for CVD by gender.
Methods: Three cross-sectional Korean National Health and Nutrition Surveys (1999-2005) were used (n=6324 for men, n=8318 for women >30 years of age).The main outcome measure was a group of relative risk factors based on Framingham assessment scoring of global risk in men and women by the summation of all major risk factors (age, cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, smoking). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine predicting factors on moderately above average risk for CVD.
Results: The group with moderately above average risk or high risk of developing CVD was 27.8% in men and 11.4% in women. Between 1999 and 2005, the prevalence of all CVD risk factors has been decreased, except smoking, but there has been no significant difference in reduction of total CVD risk scores. Logistic regression analyses showed that when survey year and age were controlled for, low education level, low monthly income and blue collar work predicted significantly the presence of moderate or high relative risk for CVD in men (p<.05). Low education level was only found as a predictor in women (p<.05).
Conclusions: These demographic factors that are the predicted risk of CVD should be considered in planning targeted educations for the public to prevent developing CVD. Occupational environment as well as their income and education levels needs to be assessed, especially for male workers, to promote adherence to lifestyle modification.
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