Longitudinal Trends in Major Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the Czech Population

Overview

Background.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death in the Czech Republic. The decline in CVDmortality observed in our country since 1985 may be due to a decrease in its incidence or case fatality. Case fatalityis mostly related to the standard of health care whereas the incidence of CVD is associated with the risk profile ofthe population. The aim of this study is to monitor longitudinal trends in major CVD risk factors in the Czechpopulation. Assessment of longitudinal trends in the population risk profile may help in analyzing the trends in CVDmorbidity and mortality.Methods and Results. In the years 1985, 1988, 1992, 1997/98 and 2000/01, five independent cross-sectional surveysof CVD risk factors were conducted in a 1% population random sample, aged 25–64 years, selected from six districtsof the Czech Republic (with a total of 5,736 males and 6,027 females examined). Over the study period of 15/16years, there is a significant increase in BMI in males (from 27.0±4.0 to 28.1±4.4 kg/m2, p

Key words:
cardiovascular disease, population random sample, cross-sectional surveys, BMI, smoking, blood pressure,hypertension, total cholesterol.