Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Long-Term Care Workers

Abstract

Little is known about long-term care workers' cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Thus, the authors used baseline objective and subjective data from 98 long-term care staff participating in a worksite health promotion study to provide a comprehensive CVD assessment. The median age of the sample was 32 years ( SD = 13.38). Nine (12.2%) participants smoked and 27 (37.0%) participants reported exposure to secondhand smoke. The average nightly hours of sleep was 6.5 ( SD = 1.18), with 24 (32%) participants reporting sleeping at least fairly bad. Sixty-eight participants (73.1%) were overweight or obese. The median aerobic activity was 0 ( SD = 18.56). Participants ate on average 27 ( SD = 17.34) servings of high fatty and/or salty foods per week. Although blood pressure and cholesterol levels were within normal limits, this population demonstrated poor behavioral CVD risk factors. Given this finding and the young age of the sample, these workers may be ideal candidates for health promotion efforts before health risk factors are present.