School of Medicine, Universidad Espíritu Santo-Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador,
Environ Health Prev Med. 2013 Sep;18(5):422-5. doi: 10.1007/s12199-013-0344-8. Epub 2013 Jun 4.
Knowledge of region-specific factors affecting the cardiovascular health (CVH) is mandatory to reduce the growing burden of stroke and ischemic heart disease in rural areas of Latin American. We conducted a population-based case-control study to assess the CVH status of Atahualpa residents-a rural village representative of Coastal Ecuador-according to their living arrangements.
All Atahualpa residents aged ≥40 years and free of stroke or ischemic heart disease that lived alone were identified during a door-to-door census, and their CVH status was compared to that of a sample of residents that lived with relatives. Four controls individually matched for age, gender, education, job and alcohol intake, and randomly selected from different households, were selected for each case-person.
A total of 185 persons (37 who lived alone and 148 matched controls) were included. A poor CVH status was found in 89.2 % case-patients and 72.3 % controls (p = 0.03). We found significantly worse levels of physical activity (p < 0.0001) and non-significant trends for worse healthy diet and glucose levels among case-persons than controls.
This study suggests that social isolation is associated with a worse CVH in rural coastal Ecuador. An ongoing community-based intervention may prove effective to improve CVH status in these social isolated persons.
了解影响心血管健康（CVH）的特定区域因素对于降低拉丁美洲农村地区中风和缺血性心脏病的日益增长负担至关重要。我们进行了一项基于人群的病例对照研究，以评估阿塔瓦尔帕居民的 CVH 状况-厄瓜多尔沿海地区的一个典型农村村庄-根据他们的生活安排。
在挨家挨户的人口普查中，确定了所有≥40 岁且无中风或缺血性心脏病的独自居住的阿塔瓦尔帕居民，并将其 CVH 状况与居住在亲戚家的居民样本进行了比较。为每个病例个体随机选择了来自不同家庭的年龄、性别、教育、职业和饮酒摄入量相匹配的 4 名对照者。
共纳入 185 人（37 名独居者和 148 名匹配对照者）。89.2%的病例患者和 72.3%的对照者存在较差的 CVH 状况（p = 0.03）。与对照组相比，病例患者的体力活动水平显著较差（p < 0.0001），健康饮食和血糖水平的差异无统计学意义。
本研究表明，社会隔离与厄瓜多尔沿海农村地区较差的 CVH 有关。正在进行的基于社区的干预措施可能对改善这些社会隔离人群的 CVH 状况有效。
