Five-year incidence of cardiovascular disease and its predictors in Greece: the ATTICA study

Abstract

The 5-year incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its determinants, in a sample of men and women from Greece, was evaluated. From May 2001 to December 2002, 1514 men and 1528 women (>18 years old) without any clinical evidence of CVD, living in the Attica area, Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study. In 2006, a group of experts performed the 5-year follow-up (941 of the 3042 (31%) participants were lost to follow-up). Development of CVD (coronary heart disease, acute coronary syndromes, stroke, or other CVD) during the follow-up period was defined according to WHO-ICD-10 criteria. The 5-year incidence of CVD was 11.0% in men and 6.1% in women (p<0.001); the case fatality rate was 1.6%. Multi-adjusted logistic regression analysis revealed that increased age (odds ratio per year=1.09, p=0.04), waist-to-hip ratio (odds ratio=5.07, p=0.02), hypertension (odds ratio=4.53, p=0.001), diabetes (odds ratio=4.53, p=0.001) and C-reactive protein levels (odds ratio per 1 mg/dl=1.31, p=0.02) were the most significant baseline bio-clinical predictors of CVD. Furthermore, an increased education level and greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet (among 35-65-year-old individuals) were associated with a lower CVD incidence (odds ratio per 3 years of school difference=0.83, p<0.001 and odds ratio per 1/55 units in diet score=0.94, p<0.001), irrespective of various potential confounders. In conclusion, aging, central fat, hypertension and diabetes, inflammation process, low social status and abstinence from a Mediterranean diet seem to predict CVD events within a 5-year period.

Exclusive olive oil consumption has a protective effect on coronary artery disease; overview of the THISEAS study

“…population (ATTICA study), while the results regarding the prevalence of hypertension are similar to those reported previously (5) . However, the study sample in the THISEAS study is a decade older than the study aforementioned; therefore the results are not totally comparable.…”

Quality, but not cost, of diet is associated with 5-year incidence of CVD: the ATTICA study

“…A wide body of scientific evidence relates diet and incidence of CVD (33)(34)(35) . There is also increasing scientific evidence that diets high in consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, which also include fish, nuts and low-fat dairy products, have protective health effects.…”

Cultural Understanding of Health and Adjustment to Cardiovascular Disease among the Greek Elderly

“…Their findings suggested that CVD is highest among communities originating in the Middle East and southern European. The Greek population is part of this group, and CVD is a significant concern among them as well as in their nation of origin (Panagiotakos et al, 2008;Allender et al, 2008).…”