Authors
- Livija Sušić — Health Centre of Osijek-Baranja County, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0001-7271-4449
- Matea Lukić — Faculty of Medicine, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-3530-8123
- Marko Burić — Faculty of Medicine, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-0162-9770
- Antonio Burić — Institute of Emergency Medicine of Osijek-Baranja County, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-0516-5475
- Lana Maričić — Faculty of Medicine, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-0311-8384
- Kristina Kralik — Faculty of Medicine, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-4481-6365
- Tihomir Sušić — Information Institute Osijek, Osijek, Croatia — ORCID: 0000-0002-8264-5384
Keywords
cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, lifestyle habits, gender
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15836/ccar2022.254Full Text
**Goal**: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of unhealthy lifestyle habits on the occurrence of cardiometabolic disease (CMD) depending on age and gender. **Patients and Methods**: A cross-sectional population study that included 163 participants (86 women, 77 men) aged 20 to 65, without known cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. Based on the laboratory findings and the obtained anthropometric measurements, the cardiometabolic profile of the subjects was evaluated. Lifestyle habits were examined through a questionnaire. The impact of 11 unhealthy lifestyle habits (**Table 1**) on the incidence of arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, overweight, obesity, impaired fasting glycaemia and metabolic syndrome was observed. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to identify the risk factors for CMD. Significance level p set at Alpha = 0.05. Odd’s ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to report the findings. ### TABLE 1: 11 unhealthy lifestyle habits. | | **Unhealthy lifestyle habits** | **Weekly frequency** | | --- | --- | --- | | 1. | Smoking | | | 2. | Adequate physical activity | 3 | | 4. | Sweets | > 2 | | 5. | Fish | < 2 | | 6. | Fruits | < 7 | | 7. | Vegetables | < 7 | | 8. | Dairy products | < 7 | | 9. | Nuts | < 4 | | 10. | Bread/pasta/cereals | < 7 | | 11. | Extra salting | | **Results**: The average number of unhealthy lifestyle habits was 7 (min 2 - max 11). There was no significant difference in the number of unhealthy lifestyle habits in relation to gender and age. Of all, 84% of respondents already had one or more CMD. Men, compared to women, were significantly more obese, overweight and had dyslipidemia **(****Table 2****).** CMD was also significantly more common in those subjects who drink coffee in an amount of up to 2 dcl daily. Using bivariate logistic regression, we assessed which lifestyle habits would be more significant in predicting the occurrence of CMD and obtained the data that respondents with more meat meals per week have a 1.29 times greater chance of CMD occurrence. In the age group up to 50 years subjects with ≥ 6 unhealthy lifestyle habits were 5.7 times more likely to develop CMD (OR = 2.7; 95% CI 1.13 to 29.3). ### TABLE 2: 11 Gender differences in the incidence of cardiometabolic diseases | **Cardiometabolic disease** | **M** **n (%)** | **W** **n (%)** | **P*** | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dyslipidemia | 69 (90) | 52 (60) | 0,01 | | Metabolic syndrome | 42 (55) | 33 (38) | 0,07 | | Overweight | 44 (57) | 25 (29) | 0,002 | | Arterial hypertension | 30 (39) | 30 (34) | 0,55 | | Obesity | 24 (31) | 8 (9) | < 0,001 | | Impared fasting glucose | 23 (29) | 15 (17) | 0,08 | [†] M = men; W= female; * χ2 test **Conclusion**: Unhealthy lifestyle habits are rooted in our society regardless of gender and age (1-3), and as a result, a significant proportion of our population has already developed CMD.
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