Dataset Information

Age and gender differences in the social patterning of cardiovascular risk factors in Switzerland: the CoLaus study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We examined the social distribution of a comprehensive range of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in a Swiss population and assessed whether socioeconomic differences varied by age and gender.

Methods

Participants were 2960 men and 3343 women aged 35-75 years from a population-based survey conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland (CoLaus study). Educational level was the indicator of socioeconomic status used in this study. Analyses were stratified by gender and age group (35-54 years; 55-75 years).

Results

There were large educational differences in the prevalence of CVRF such as current smoking (??=?absolute difference in prevalence between highest and lowest educational group:15.1%/12.6% in men/women aged 35-54 years), physical inactivity (??=?25.3%/22.7% in men/women aged 35-54 years), overweight and obesity (??=?14.6%/14.8% in men/women aged 55-75 years for obesity), hypertension (??=?16.7%/11.4% in men/women aged 55-75 years), dyslipidemia (??=?2.8%/6.2% in men/women aged 35-54 years for high LDL-cholesterol) and diabetes (??=?6.0%/2.6% in men/women aged 55-75 years). Educational inequalities in the distribution of CVRF were larger in women than in men for alcohol consumption, obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia (p<0.05). Relative educational inequalities in CVRF tended to be greater among the younger (35-54 years) than among the older age group (55-75 years), particularly for behavioral CVRF and abdominal obesity among men and for physiological CVRF among women (p<0.05).

Conclusion

Large absolute differences in the prevalence of CVRF according to education categories were observed in this Swiss population. The socioeconomic gradient in CVRF tended to be larger in women and in younger persons.

SUBMITTER: Stringhini S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3496703 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Age and gender differences in the social patterning of cardiovascular risk factors in Switzerland: the CoLaus study.

Stringhini Silvia S Spencer Brenda B Marques-Vidal Pedro P Waeber Gerard G Vollenweider Peter P Paccaud Fred F Bovet Pascal P

PloS one 20121113 11

<h4>Objectives</h4>We examined the social distribution of a comprehensive range of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in a Swiss population and assessed whether socioeconomic differences varied by age and gender.<h4>Methods</h4>Participants were 2960 men and 3343 women aged 35-75 years from a population-based survey conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland (CoLaus study). Educational level was the indicator of socioeconomic status used in this study. Analyses were stratified by gender and age group (3 ...[more]

PMID: 23152909

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence, complications and burden differ markedly between women and men. Although there is variation in the distribution of lifestyle factors between the genders, they do not fully explain the differences in CVD incidence and suggest the existence of gender-specific genetic risk factors. We aimed to estimate whether the genetic risk profiles of coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic stroke and the composite end-point of CVD differ between the genders. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied in two Finnish population cohorts, using the case-cohort design the association between common variation in 46 candidate genes and CHD, ischemic stroke, CVD, and CVD-related quantitative risk factors. We analyzed men and women jointly and also conducted genotype-gender interaction analysis. Several allelic variants conferred disease risk for men and women jointly, including rs1801020 in coagulation factor XII (HR = 1.31 (1.08-1.60) for CVD, uncorrected p = 0.006 multiplicative model). Variant rs11673407 in the fucosyltransferase 3 gene was strongly associated with waist/hip ratio (uncorrected p = 0.00005) in joint analysis. In interaction analysis we found statistical evidence of variant-gender interaction conferring risk of CHD and CVD: rs3742264 in the carboxypeptidase B2 gene, p(interaction) = 0.009 for CHD, and rs2774279 in the upstream stimulatory factor 1 gene, p(interaction) = 0.007 for CHD and CVD, showed strong association in women but not in men, while rs2069840 in interleukin 6 gene, p(interaction) = 0.004 for CVD, showed strong association in men but not in women (uncorrected p-values). Also, two variants in the selenoprotein S gene conferred risk for ischemic stroke in women, p(interaction) = 0.003 and 0.007. Importantly, we identified a larger number of gender-specific effects for women than for men. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A false discovery rate analysis suggests that we may expect half of the reported findings for combined gender analysis to be true positives, while at least third of the reported genotype-gender interaction results are true positives. The asymmetry in positive findings between the genders could imply that genetic risk loci for CVD are more readily detectable in women, while for men they are more confounded by environmental/lifestyle risk factors. The possible differences in genetic risk profiles between the genders should be addressed in more detail in genetic studies of CVD, and more focus on female CVD risk is also warranted in genome-wide association studies.

Dataset Information

Age and gender differences in the social patterning of cardiovascular risk factors in Switzerland: the CoLaus study.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Age and gender differences in the social patterning of cardiovascular risk factors in Switzerland: the CoLaus study.

Similar Datasets

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