Multiple coronary risk factors in healthy older Kuwaiti males

Objective The objective was to examine the percentage and severity of obesity and some common biochemical coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in a sample of healthy Kuwaiti adult males > or =45 y of age. We also sought to determine the percentage of males at increased risk due to the presence of multiple CHD risk factors.Design The study was a cross-sectional study.Setting The study was conducted in all men who underwent a mandatory job related physical examination or who sought to obtain retirement benefits.Subjects A total of 740 healthy Kuwaiti males between the ages of 45 to 80 y.Results In all, 37% of the men were obese, 26% had elevated glucose values and 52% had elevated or high cholesterol levels. Some had multiple risk factors for CHD, including age > or =45 y, obesity, male gender, hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia. Blood glucose values increased consistently from younger (45-54 y) to older age groups (55-64 and > or =65 y). Blood glucose values varied inversely with education level.Conclusions In societies with relatively uniform income levels, educational level may be a better indicator of chronic disease risk than income per se. These results, showing a high percentage of men with several risk factors and high mean values, suggesting more severe risk, suggest that immediate action should be taken to develop a public health intervention strategy to educate Kuwaiti men to become aware of the causes and correlates of CHD and how to decrease their risk for CHD and heart attack, the leading cause of death in Kuwait.