Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the Civil Service of Oyo State, South-Western Nigeria: An Epidemic with an Unmatched Response

Background: Worldwide, the burden of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors is rising with devastating impacts on the productive workforce. In developing nations, it has further led to an unstable population pyramid as a result of premature deaths of her workforce leading to the continued tapering of the pyramidal apex. Inspite of this, many studies were conducted among the general population neglecting the local government civil servants who are seen as policy implementers. Therefore, the study assessed the pattern of CV risk factors in South-western Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 260 local government workers selected by multistage sampling technique from July to September 2017. A pretested, interviewer-administered questionnaire was administered to obtain socio-demographic and behavioural information. Lipid analysis, anthropometric, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose measurements were done according to protocols. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25;bivariate analysis was done using Chi-square. Level of significance was at 5%. Results: The mean age of respondents was 46.0 ± 6.7 years. The proportion of participants with good knowledge of risk factors was 57.7%. The proportion of respondent with hypertension, visceral obesity, general obesity, diabetes, smoking and physical inactivity was 40.4%, 35.0%, 52.2%, 38.2%, 5.8% and 75.8% respectively. The prevalence of elevated total cholesterol (↑TC), raised low-density lipoprotein (↑LDLc), low high-density lipoprotein (↓HDLc) and elevated triglycerides (↑TGs) was 55.4%, 85.0%, 70.4% and 3.1% respectively. There was a higher proportion of elevated total cholesterol (TC) and LDLc among female respondents (p = 0.002;p = 0.009). Senior cadre staff had a higher proportion of respondents with raised ↓HDLc and ↑TGs (p = 0.031;p = 0.036). Age was associated with hypertension and was highest among respondents in 45 - 54 years age category (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of CV risk factors was higher compared with other studies in Nigeria and Africa. The findings illuminated a poor response to the rising burden of CV risk factors despite interventions put in place. This underscores the need for holistic preventive and control strategies with a view to reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Nigeria.