Conventional risk factors among newly diagnosed coronary heart disease patients in Delhi

AIM:To analyze the conventional risk factors among newly diagnosed cases of coronary heart disease(CHD) admitted to a hospital in Delhi,India.METHODS:This hospital-based prospective study in-cluded 276 consecutive newly diagnosed cases of CHD in the Coronary Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi.RESULTS:The mean age of the cases was 49.7± 9.5 years,with the youngest case aged 27 years.The two risk factors present most frequently among the cases were inadequate physical activity and abnormal lipid profile.Just about 3.6%of cases in our study had a physical activity level(PAL)that could be termed as"active",with a large proportion(96.4%)having a PAL suggestive of a sedentary lifestyle.A majority of patients were found to be current tobacco smokers(53.3%)and 188(68.1%)subjects were lifetime ever smokers.There was not a single case who did not have one or more of the risk factors.More than one-quarter(n=76)had six or more of the studied risk factors.CONCLUSION:Indians have among the CHD highest mortality rates amongst all ethnic groups studied so far.It is important to study the regional epidemiology of the cardiovascular events to allow for location-specific prevention and control programs.