Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Determinants and Angiographic Severity of Coronary Artery Disease in Patients Awaiting Coronary Artery Bypass Graft in a Provincial Hospital Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: The age-standardized death rate of coronary heart disease has shown a downward trend in many developed countries while an upward trend has been seen in developing countries with demographic changes, urbanization, and lifestyle changes. The aims of our study were to study the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), socioeconomic determinants and explore the relationship between CVRFs and angiographic severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in a cohort of patients awaiting coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

Methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study. One hundred and forty one consecutive male patients with angiographically diagnosed CAD were selected. We examined the relationship between traditional CVRFs and atherosclerotic burden assessed by different vessel scores.

Results: Mean (SD) age of the subjects was 56 (8) years. The prevalence of CVRFs was high in the study group. Majority of them were in the lower socioeconomic status (SES). The analysis indicated that there were no significant correlations or a significant predictive value of CVRFs with the severity of CAD.

Conclusions: Severity of coronary artery disease estimated by angiographic scores appears to correlate poorly with established traditional cardiovascular risk factors.