High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adults living in Greece: the EMENO National Health Examination Survey

BackgroundNationwide data on cardiovascular risk factors prevalence is lacking in Greece. This work presents the findings of the national health examination survey EMENO (2013-2016) regarding the prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, obesity and smoking.MethodsA random sample of adults (>= 18years) was drawn by multistage stratified random sampling based on 2011 Census. All EMENO participants with >= 1 measurement of interest [blood pressure (BP), fasting glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol (TC), Body Mass Index (BMI)] were included. Hypertension was defined as BP >= 140/90mmHg and/or antihypertensive treatment; diabetes as fasting glucose >= 126mg/dL and/or HbA1c >= 6.5% or self-reported diabetes; hypercholesterolemia as TC >= 190mg/dL. Sampling weights were applied to adjust for study design and post-stratification weights to match sample age and sex distribution to population one. Non-response was adjusted by inverse probability weighting.ResultsOf 6006 EMENO participants, 4822 were included (51.5% females, median age:47.9years). The prevalence of hypertension was 39.2%, higher in men (42.4%) than in women (36.1%); of hypercholesterolemia 60.2%, similar in men (59.5%) and women (60.9%); of diabetes 11.6%, similar men (12.4%) and women (10.9%); of obesity 32.1%, higher in women (33.5% vs 30.2%), although in subjects aged 18-40year it was higher in men; of current smoking 38.2%, higher in men (44.0%) than in women (32.7%). The prevalence of all risk factors increased substantially with age, except smoking, which followed an inverse U shape.ConclusionsThe burden of cardiovascular risk factors among Greek adults is alarming. There is considerable preventive potential and actions at health care and societal level are urgently needed.