Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of risk factors for coronary heart disease and the risk of coronary heart disease events before and after the introduction of healthy lifestyle changes among a group of medical university staff. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 98 medical university staff participated in this before-after study. Their height, weight, blood pressure, waist-hip circumference, level of physical activity, smoking/non-smoking status, fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, and levels of triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein were ascertained before the study. The distribution of risk factors (triglycerides/high-density lipoproteins) and the atherogenic index (low-density lipoprotein/highdensity lipoprotein) were determined, as well. Three months after the intervention, all these factors were determined again in 86 of the subjects. Data entry and analysis were done on SPSS software. The mean differences in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, waist circumference/hip circumference ratio, fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein before and after the intervention were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The mean differences in weight, body mass index, hip circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein and risk of coronary heart disease events five and ten years after the intervention were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The atherogenic index of the participants showed that 43.3 of the subjects were in a low-risk situation. Only 29.6 of participants had no risk of coronary heart disease.