Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 30;6(11):e009195.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009195.

Assessment of cardiovascular risk in Tunisia: applying the Framingham risk score to national survey data

O Saidi  1   2 , D Malouche  1   3   4   5 , M O'Flaherty  6 , N Ben Mansour  1   2 , H A Skhiri  2 , H Ben Romdhane  1 , L Bezdah  1
Affiliations

Assessment of cardiovascular risk in Tunisia: applying the Framingham risk score to national survey data

O Saidi et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: This paper aims to assess the socioeconomic determinants of a high 10 year cardiovascular risk in Tunisia.

Setting: We used a national population based cross sectional survey conducted in 2005 in Tunisia comprising 7780 subjects. We applied the non-laboratory version of the Framingham equation to estimate the 10 year cardiovascular risk.

Participants: 8007 participants, aged 35-74 years, were included in the sample but effective exclusion of individuals with cardiovascular diseases and cancer resulted in 7780 subjects (3326 men and 4454 women) included in the analysis.

Results: Mean age was 48.7 years. Women accounted for 50.5% of participants. According to the Framingham equation, 18.1% (17.25-18.9%) of the study population had a high risk (≥20% within 10 years). The gender difference was striking and statistically significant: 27.2% (25.7-28.7%) of men had a high risk, threefold higher than women (9.7%; 8.8-10.5%). A higher 10 year global cardiovascular risk was associated with social disadvantage in men and women; thus illiterate and divorced individuals, and adults without a professional activity had a significantly higher risk of developing a cardiovascular event in 10 years. Illiterate men were at higher risk than those with secondary and higher education (OR=7.01; 5.49 to 9.14). The risk in illiterate women was more elevated (OR=13.57; 7.58 to 24.31). Those living in an urban area had a higher risk (OR=1.45 (1.19 to 1.76) in men and OR=1.71 (1.35 to 2.18) in women).

Conclusions: The 10 year global cardiovascular risk in the Tunisian population is already substantially high, affecting almost a third of men and 1 in 10 women, and concentrated in those more socially disadvantaged.

Keywords: 10-year global cardiovascular risk; CARDIOLOGY; EPIDEMIOLOGY; non–laboratory Framingham model; socio-economic determinants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of 10 year global cardiovascular risk by age in men and women.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spatial distribution of 10 year global cardiovascular risk in men and women.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Linear regression model for estimate of 10 year global cardiovascular risk by socioeconomic determinants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. National Institute of Statistics. Yearly Statistics Report No 55. National Institute of Statistics: Tunisia, 2012.
    1. Ben Romdhane H, Khaldi R, Oueslati A et al. . Transition épidémiologique et transition alimentaire et nutritionnelle en Tunisie. Options Méditerranéennes 2002;41:278.
    1. National Public Health Institute. Deaths registry. Tunisia, 2013. http://www.insp.rns.tn/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=26&I...
    1. Saidi O, Ben Mansour N, O'Flaherty M et al. . Analyzing recent coronary heart disease mortality trends in Tunisia between 1997 and 2009. PLoS ONE 2013;8:e63202 10.1371/journal.pone.0063202 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ben Romdhane H. Coronary heart diseases: the epidemic and its determinants. In: vol I: the risk factors Tunis: National Public Health Institute Press, 2001.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources