Prevalencia de síncope en una muestra de mujeres mexicanas residentes de la ciudad de México / Prevalence of syncope in a sample of Mexican women residents in Mexico City

OBJECTIVE: To identify the frequency of syncope in a sample of women regular residents of Mexico City. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty one women between 18 and 88 years old with voluntary participation were included in the study. Trained interviewers through a structured questionnaire obtained syncope information. Prevalence of syncope was obtained, and it's relation with: age, time since the last syncope and frequency of syncope in their live span was registered. RESULTS: Thirty eight percent informed they had suffered syncope, of them 50% had only one syncopal episode during their lives. The others had two or more episodes. Most women had their last syncope between 19 and 50 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of syncope was a little higher than previous studies. This is a first approximation, which must be corroborated with larger studies with well population variability representation.

Comparación de frecuencia de factores de riesgo cardiovascular tradicionales en mujeres con distinto nivel educativo / Comparison of traditional cardiovascular risk factors frequency among women of different education levels

INTRODUCTION: Ischemic heart disease is the first cause of death in the world in both genders between 30 and 40 years of age. It has been proposed that socioeconomic status could affect the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), as well as cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality. The purpose of this work was to compare the frequency of CVRF in two groups of women with different educational level. RESULTS: A higher frequency of visceral obesity was identified in the women with lower educational level and hypo-HDL-C in the group of women with higher educational level. Correlation between age and modifiable CVRF was different between the studied groups. A larger proportion of women with higher educational level than those with lower educational level drank alcoholic beverages and smoked cigarettes. DISCUSSION: Frequency of identified modifiable CVRF was similar to that found in other Hispanic-American populations. The inverse relationship between CVRF and educational level, a commonly used measure of socioeconomic status, and prevalence of CVRF informed in English and American studies was not observed in this investigation; probably because social and cultural conditions could affect the educational level in a different manner. Health education programs must take into account the cultural processes of each country, city, or community, regardless of the socioeconomic status, based on social and cultural backgrounds of each group.

Factores de riesgo cardiovascular en una muestra de mu- jeres jóvenes mexicanas / Cardiovascular risk factors in a sample of young Mexican women

The present work describes the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in young mexican women. 96 women from 18 to 40 years of age were included. All of them were measured (height, waist and hip) and weighed, blood pressure was registered, laboratory exams were taken and a questionnaire was answered. Cardiovascular risk factors prevalence was estimated and the average concentrations of lipids and glucose and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were compared by age, BMI and WHI group. Of the studied women, 51% were overweight or obese and 51% had visceral obesity with a high prevalence of lipids abnormalities (hypoalpha-lipoproteinemia and hypertrigliceridemia), which increases progressively with age. Only 5% and 4% had normal to high systolic and dyastolic blood pressures and 7% had blood glucose > 110 mg/dL. In this sample of women with similar social, demographic, economic, and cultural characteristics, a high proportion was identified with body weight problems and lipids abnormalities, a frequent finding in Latin populations with multiple etiologies and associated with different cardiovascular risk factors.