Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Employees and Their Families of a Saudi University: An Epidemiological Study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors among Saudi university employees and their families; to estimate the cardiovascular risk (CVR) amongst the study population in the following 10years.MethodsThe NCD risk factors prevalence was estimated using a cross-sectional approach for a sample of employees and their families aged ≥ 18 years old, in a Saudi university (Riyadh in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; KSA). WHO STEPwise standardized tools were used to estimate NCD risk factors and the Framingham Coronary Heart Risk Score calculator was used to calculate the CVR.ResultsFive thousand and two hundred subjects were invited, of whom 4,500 participated in the study, providing a response rate of 87%. The mean age of participants was 39.3±13.4 years. The majority of participants reported low fruit/vegetables consumption (88%), and physically inactive (77%). More than two thirds of the cohort was found to be either overweight or obese (72%), where 36% were obese, and 59% had abdominal obesity. Of the total cohort, 22–37% were found to suffer from dyslipidaemia, 22% either diabetes or hypertension, with rather low reported current tobacco use (12%). One quarter of participants was estimated to have >10% risk to develop cardiovascular disease within the following 10-years.ConclusionThe prevalence of NCD risk factors was found to be substantially high among the university employees and their families in this study.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Risk Level, Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Level, and Quality of Work Life among University Staffs; Correlational study

“…One study in Barbados found that university staff who older than 45 years old identified have atleast one of chronic diseases risk factors (smoking, lack of physical activity, obesity, lack of vegetables and fruits consumption, and raised blood pressure) and more than half of them have all three risk factors (Morris, Unwin, Ali, Brathwaite-Graham, Samuels, 2011). Almost similar findings identified in one study conducted among staffs of one university in Saudi Arabia (Alzeidan R, Rabiee F, Mandil A, Hersi A, & Fayed A, 2016). In Indonesian context, a study identified that family history and gender as significant hypertensionassociated risk factors among staffs in one public university in West Java (Azra, 2016).…”

“…In this study, almost half of respondents (49.25%) projected to have > 10% risk for developing CVD within the next 10 years compare to 25% found in the study conducted in Saudi Arabia (Alzeidan et al, 2016). Age of the respondent paricipated is one of the reasons causing this different.…”

“…Not only identified the exsiting risk factors separatedly (smooking, obesity, vegetables/ fruits consumption, blood pressure, and physical activities) as did in the previous studies (Alzeidan, et al, 2016;Azra, 2016;Morris et al, 2011), this study calculated the score and interpreted those into the particular diseases vulnerability level. It probably provides beneficial issues.…”

Changes in dietary habits and physical activity and status of metabolic syndrome among expatriates in Saudi Arabia

“…The current investigation was a substudy of a larger study (n= 4500 subjects) and focused only on non-Saudi employees and their families (n=1437). The details of the larger study and participants' recruitment procedure are described elsewhere (14).…”

“…Body weight and height and waist and hip circumferences were measured for all participants, as described previously (14). Questions about lifestyle behaviour, including diet, physical activity and tobacco use, were asked twice: (1) to describe their current behaviour and (2) to report their behavioural habits before moving to Saudi Arabia.…”