Prevalence and awareness of risk factors and behaviours of coronary heart disease in an urban population of Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan: a community survey.

OBJECTIVES

To estimate the prevalence and awareness of risk factors and risk behaviours of coronary heart disease (CHD) in the lower middle class residing in urban localities of Karachi, a mega city of Pakistan.

METHODS

The design consisted of a cross-sectional community based survey in the lower middle class urban localities of Karimabad, Garden and Kharardar in Karachi, Pakistan. One thousand four hundred adults (18 years and above) registered with the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) participated in the survey. Life style, self-reported risk variables, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were recorded.

RESULTS

Prevalence of hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes were 38.5, 10.7 and 9.1 per cent, respectively. 52.2 per cent of the sample was overweight or obese; 64.8 per cent never exercised; 11.9 per cent had two or more major risk factors of CHD.

CONCLUSION

The communities studied showed a very high prevalence of hypertension, obesity and a sedentary life style. Despite a high literacy rate, awareness regarding CHD risk factors was low. This underlines the need for measures to increase awareness regarding CHD and its risk factors and a healthy lifestyle in the developing countries.