A comprehensive study on the serum lipid profile and risk factor analysis for cardiovascular diseases in a cross-sectional Indian population

Several epidemiological studies have established that Indians have a higher incidence of coronary heart disease. Because of vast differences in ethnicity, food habits and sociocultural background of Indians, it is essential that survey be conducted for profiling risk factor indicators in subjects from different parts of the country with adequate sample size. This study was carried out on CFTRI employees whose population is originally drawn from different parts of the country with diverse food habits. The population consisting of 624 subjects (514 men and 110 women) were subjected to general health check-up, blood and urine analysis under the supervision of a medical officer. Sixty-one individuals (9.77%) were found to be diabetic and 73 individuals (11.69%) were hypertensive of which 11.7% were also found to have diabetes. The mean serum cholesterol concentration in men was found to be 158 mg % and that in women was 165 mg %. Ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol was found to be greater than 6.5 in all the cases. Blood group analysis indicated that 41.5% of the subjects belonged to O(+) group (n = 259) followed by B(+) 25.6% (n = 160), A(+) 24.6% (n = 154) and AB(+) 4.48% (n = 28). Twenty-three individuals were Rh-negative. It was observed that serum cholesterol and triglycerides were lower in O(+) groups, compared to individuals in other groups. The incidence of diabetes and hypertension in O(+) was 5.79% and 10.4%, B(+)12.5% and 15.6%, A(+) 11.0% and 12.3% and AB(+) 21.4% and 7.1% respectively. Eight individuals were found to have myocardial infarction. Among them four belonged to A(+), two to B(+) and one each to AB(+)and O(+).