Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Senior Staff of Kaduna Polytechnic

Abstract

Objective: To assess the cardiovascular disease risk factors among selected senior staff of Kaduna Polytechnic located within Kaduna, the capital city of Kaduna State.

Methods: It was a field-based descriptive cross-sectional study. The sampling technique was multistage sampling. The study population included both the academic and non-academic senior staff, who were within the range of 25-65 years that were on full-time employment. The instrument for data collection includes questionnaire, blood pressure measurement, body mass calculation, fasting blood sugar and lipid profile test. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: This study has established that hypertension (30.6%), overweight (30.3%) and obesity (21.6%) were the prevalent cardiovascular risk factors among senior staff of Kaduna polytechnic while physical inactivity and high fat diet were the most prevalent behavioral risk factors identified.

Conclusion: The outcome of the study showed an overall fair knowledge and awareness to CVD and its risk factors, but it did not translate to good attitude towards the risk factors among the staff.