MEDICINSKI GLASNIK

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Medicinski Glasnik, Volumen 6, Number 2, August 2009
and as for the financial status (C=0.208) more
than two thirds of participants had low income
(monthly household income in average between
1000 and 2000 Kunas).
DISCUSSION
The prevalence of selected risk factors for
CVDs in Western Croatia is high as expected.
Our results support the findings of other authors
(6, 15-18) that the prevalence of cardiovascular
risk factors in Croatia is generally high, but that
their ranking varies on the regions, age and sex.
Equivalent to Croatian health survey in 2003,
in neighbouring Slovenia there was a survey
conducted in 2001 - “Risk Factors for Noncommunicable
Diseases in Adults in Slovenia”
(12). Similar findings regarding to age, sex and
regional differences were found, although with
some speciality. In Western Croatia smoking was
found to be the most frequent risk factor in both
genders. The frequency of daily smokers for the
Western region in Croatia was higher than that
found at the national level (6). In general, more
males than females were cigarette smokers, but
the difference has been very narrow (18,19). Consuming
tobacco, especially cigarette smoking, is
the main avoidable risk factor for CVDs. The total
of one third of all deaths caused by CVDs can
be related to smoking cigarettes (20). The risk
for myocardial infarction increases with age and
number of cigarettes smoked, so that in middle
age female who smoke more than 40 cigarettes
every day, the risk rises for 74.6% (22).
This problem is more significant due to the
fact that the habit is mostly present among the
youngest males and females included in this
study. Therefore, we conducted the analysis with
the middle aged respondents (35-64) as more
prominent for presence of cardiovascular risks
and related/consequent mortality rates (3). In this
age group, opposite to prevalent male smokers in
general, more than a half of the males and two
thirds of the females are daily smokers or quitted
less than 10 years ago. So far Croatia has had
many attempts to promote non smoking on the
National level. The largest campaign was in 2002
under the title “Say yes to non smoking”. Unfortunately,
on a larger scale this action did not last
long enough to make its impacts durable (23).
On the other hand, we argue that the absence
of sensibility for the problem and its true picture,
lack of financial support and genuine commitment
on the regional level contribute to continuously
high level of cigarette smoking.
High blood pressure followed by obesity was
present in more than 40 % of participants. We
found these risks in the middle aged population
of both genders. Both of these risks are the elements
of the metabolic syndrome (24). More to
add, physically inactive was nearly every fourth
person, especially females of younger ages. Also,
every seventh person in the Region had inadequate
nutrition and it can be observed as a special
risk for males. In younger males, findings
of inadequate nutrition are more frequent. This
is an interesting finding in view of the fact that
the Western region belongs to the Adriatic area
where Mediterranean food is widely accessible
and a part of the tradition. (6).
The frequency of high blood pressure as
a second risk factor for the Western region in
Croatia was found little lower than that at the
national level (5, 6) and the lowest among the
regions (16). The prevalence of hypertension in
all regions of Croatia exceeds 50% in males and
44% in females (6).
The frequency of obesity as a risk factor
in Western region of Croatia was higher than
found at the national level (5, 6). Interestingly,
the assessment of the results at the national level
showed that obesity was one of the most common
risk factor found for females but the least
prevalent in males (5). Opposite to these findings,
in the Western region obesity is a seriously
widespread risk factor for males prior to physical
inactivity and heavy drinking.
The occurrence of heavy drinking in the
Western region in Croatia was found lower than
that at the national level (6). Stressing the potential
but insufficient implementation of secondary