Journal des maladies tropicales et de la santé publique

Abstrait

Association between Cardiovascular Disease, Cerebrovascular Disease and Overweight and Obesity among Adults in Puerto Rico

Paula Lorán, Manuel Bayona, Carolina Álvarez Garriga and Ruby A. Serrano-Rodríguez

Background: According to the World Health Organization (2011), a high body mass index is an important risk factor for no communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, mainly heart disease and stroke.

Methods: Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2009 and 2010 were used for this study (n = 7,522). In order to estimate the prevalence ratio of overweight and obesity adjusted for multiple variables, Cox regression was used.

Results: Overall, 63.2% of participants were overweight or obese. Individuals with hypertension had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than those without hypertension (p <0.01). Those with a diagnosis of stroke had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity compared with those who had no such diagnosis (p <0.01). In patients with angina, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher compared with those without (p <0.01). With regards to the variable history of stroke, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in those who had suffered this condition, compared with those without this history (p = 0.88).

Conclusion: Our study reveals that there is a relationship between overweight and obesity and diseases such as hypertension, heart attack and angina. However, we found no statistically significant association between overweight and obesity and cerebrovascular disease.