Profile of non communicable disease risk factors in an industrial setting.

ABSTRACT

AIM: The profile of non communicable diseases (NCD) risk factors was identified in an industry by pre tested WHO's STEPS questionnaire. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of all employment categories of an Industry (2000 employees) was done after randomly selecting subjects (220) from worker (52%) and non worker categories (47.4%), after informed consent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Information was collected on behavioural risk factors (STEP I), followed by anthropometric and blood pressure measurements by a trained investigator (STEP II). STEP III constituted biochemical assessment of "at risk" subjects (> 3 risk factors). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Percentage of subjects having NCD risk factors and the odds ratios were calculated. RESULTS: Overall risk factor profile of the study subjects revealed universal prevalence of 3 risk factors) with prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and diabetes of 40.5, 38.2 and 19.1% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of NCD risk factors in industrial setting was seen; therefore public health approaches are required at workplace settings to curtail the rising epidemic in the productive populations.