CORELATIONS BETWEEN ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS AND CARDIO-VASCULAR RISK FACTORS RELATED TO LIFESTYLE IN A RURAL POPULATION

Background and aims. Prevention and reduction of cardio-vascular mortality are in relationship with understanding and being able to modify risk factors, among which overweight and obesity become the most significant. The aim of this paper is to define cardio-metabolic risk factors which are specific to the studied population, and also to find elements of lifestyle that lead to overweight. We targeted smoking, alcohol consumption, stress, physical exercise, income and educational level. Material and methods. We studied a sample of 172 subjects, representative for the population of Deleni, a rural community in Iasi County; among these subjects, 67 were men, 105 were women, with an average age of 54. For each a chart was filled, containing demographic data, socio-economic status, personal and family medical history. We measured anthropometric parameters: weight (W), height (H), waist circumference (WC) and we calculated body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-toheight ratio (WHtR). We performed interviews to fill in a food frequency questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results. In the lot studied, 44.2% are overweight and 18.6% are obese, the majority of these being women. Regarding WC, among normal weight, 52.4% have large WC (>= 94cm for men and >= 80cm for women). Obesity markers positively correlate with increase in age and decrease in income (p= 0.024), with low educational level, regular consumption of coffee (p= 0.093), and negatively correlate with excessive alcohol consumption (p= 0.049) and smoking (p= 0.003). As expected, there is an inverse relationship between increased physical exercise and BMI (p= 0.015) and a direct relationship between increased stress level and WC. Conclusions. Anthropometric parameters are sensible markers in evaluating the influence of lifestyle on cardio-metabolic risk.