Baseline population survey data on the prevalence of risk factors for coronary artery disease among Kuwaitis aged 15 years and older

There are no baseline population survey data on the prevalence of risk factors for coronary artery disease [CAD] among normal, healthy Kuwaiti women upon which future interventional studies can be based. Subjects and We collected data on the prevalence of excessive weight, obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, current smoking and physical inactivity for 7,609 apparently healthy Kuwaitis aged 15 years and older by means of a household survey. Using a structured questionnaire, we collected demographic data from the respondents, measured their body weight and height, and collected blood samples for measurement of glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], triglycerides, and apolipoproteins A1 and B. The prevalence of obesity among adult Kuwaitis was 23.5%. It was higher among women [30.0%] than among men [17.5%]. The combined prevalence of obesity and excessive weight in the population was 58% [63.4% among women and 53% among men]. Diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia were slightly higher in women than in men [21.8 vs 17.7 and 36.6 vs 30.2% respectively] while hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-C were higher in men than in women [44.1 vs 33.8 and 52.2 vs 21.8% respectively]. The prevalence of smoking was significantly higher in men [31.7%] than in women [1.4%], while the prevalence of physical inactivity was higher in women [71.4%] than in men [50.6%]. We conclude that Kuwaiti women, like men, have high risk factors for CAD and should receive equal attention in future programs to prevent CAD death among Kuwaitis

Age-and sex-specific reference intervals for blood chemistry analytes in Kuwaitis aged 15 years and older

There are no published reference intervals for blood chemistry analytes for Kuwaitis and yet this is important for proper management of patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the age arid sex-specific reference intervals for routine blood chemistry analytes for Kuwaitis aged 15 years arid over. Using a stratified sampling method, 2500 Kuwaiti households were selected from the governorates in Kuwait. Subjects aged 15 years and over who volunteered to give blood were selected randomly to represent the age and sex distribution of the Kuwaiti population. They were visited in their homes and blood samples were drawn and analyzed for blood chemistry analytes on the Beckman's Synchron Coulter LX 20 autoarialyser. The reference interval, mean value, median value, and standard deviation for each analyte was reported for males and females and for four age groups [15-24, 25-44, 45-59 and 60-79 years]. Kuwaitis had lower serum creatinine but higher serum cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol and uric acid concentrations than the commercially available reference intervals currently in use at the Ministry of Public Health Hospitals in Kuwait. Age-dependent differences existed for glucose, urea, potassium, calcium, phosphate, albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase and LDL-cholesterol. Sex differences existed for blood urea, creatinine, albumin, HDLcholesterol, uric acid, total bilirubin and aspartate transaminase. We did not find any significant differences in blood chemistry analytes between people from the different governorates in Kuwait. We produced age and sex-specific reference intervals for blood chemistry analytes in Kuwaitis aged 15 years and older. Since the values obtained are different from the commercial reference intervals, we