Cardiovascular Diseases in Relation to Anthropometric, Biochemical and Dietary Intake in Women: A Case Control Study

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases in women are increasing at an alarming rate but very
little attention has been given due to economic and socio-cultural reasons. A study was undertaken
to examine the relationship between cardiovascular diseases and nutritional status in
Pakistani women.
Methods: A case-control study was carried out in the Outpatients department (OPD) of the
Cardiology Unit, Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
The inclusion criteria for selection of cases were females having complaints of myocardial
infarction and free from all other infectious and chronic diseases. Forty three cases and 43 controls
were selected for the study. Subjects were interviewed for their medical history, dietary intake
demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Weight, height measurements and blood
samples from both the cases and controls were taken for assessing their nutritional status. Data
were analyzed using Student’s t-test, Chi-square test, univariate and multivariate unconditional
logistic regression to study the relationship between different variables.
Results: The results revealed that the cases had a significantly (p<0.05) higher median age
than the controls but there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the mean weight, height,
BMI, serum ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations between the cases and controls. High
prevalence of overweight and obesity was found in both cases (67.4%) and controls (81.4%).
Cases had a significantly lower mean dietary energy, protein, carbohydrates, and fat intake than
the controls but there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the mean iron intake between
the cases and controls. Results of logistic regression showed no significant association between
the dependent (CVD) and independent variables (age, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, exercise,
family history, family type, family size, haemoglobin, ferritin, carbohydrates and protein).
Conclusions: The study does not reveal significant relationship between the CVDs and nutritional
status. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in women was found to be alarmingly
high and needs to be addressed by appropriate interventions to prevent the incidence of metabolic
syndromes and chronic diseases in population.