Lifestyle-associated risk for cardiovascular diseases among doctors and nurses working in a medical college hospital in Tamil Nadu, India.

CONTEXT: Globally, about 17 million people die of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) every year and a substantial number of these deaths are attributed to four major risk factors namely unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco consumption, and alcohol consumption. Doctors and nurses often have a sedentary lifestyle.

AIMS: This study aimed at assessing the lifestyle-associated risk for CVDs among doctors and nurses in a medical college hospital.

SETTING AND DESIGN: Cross-sectional study among 250 doctors and nurses, selected using a stratified random sampling, working at a medical college hospital in Tamil Nadu.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: After consenting, each participant answered a questionnaire comprising questions pertaining to the sociodemographic characteristics as well as lifestyle-related risk factors. Risk was categorized into low, moderate, and high based on general risk factors, physical activity risk factors, and dietary risk factors separately.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: It was found that 31.2% of all study subjects and 49.2% of doctors were at high general risk for CVDs; 30.4% of all study subjects and 42.1% of doctors were at high physical activity-related risk for CVDs; 14.4% of all study subjects and 19.8% of all doctors were at high dietary pattern-related risk for CVDs. Advancing age is a statistically significant risk factor across all risk groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Doctors are at a higher risk for CVDs as compared to nurses as well as the general population.