Risk Assessment Of Cardiovascular Diseases Through Non-Laboratory Based Method And Interventional Strategies At The Selected Rural Communities Of Golaghat, Assam

Being aware about the chances of developing Cardio Vascular Diseases (CVD) in the population is an important risk oversight plan for the nullification of the disease. Therefore to assess the CVD risk, A cross-sectional survey was done through non-laboratory based method at the selected rural communities of Golaghat, Assam. The study aims to provide Interventional Strategies by raising health awareness among the population. WHO STEPS questionnaire excluding the biochemical measurements were used to assess the CVD risk level among adults aged 40 years to 74 years. WHO CVD risk assessment non-laboratory based chart, (SOUTH ASIA, 2019) was used to calculate the 10 year CVD Risk level among the population. Non-probability purposive sampling method was employed to gather information from a sample of 678. Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS 30.0.0. Univarite analysis was done using chi-square test. Majority of the samples 51.2% belong to the age group 40-49 years and most of them 67.4% were female. In this study, it was found that 49.60% had very low CVD risk ( <5%), 29.35% had low risk (<10%), 20.20% had moderate risk (<20%) and only 0.88% had high CVD risk (≥20%) based on WHO CVD Risk assessment chart (SOUTH ASIA, 2019). High CVD risk (≥20%) was found more in male adults, aged 50 years and above, non-vegetarian, currently married, private employee also home maker, who had high blood pressure (≥140 mmHg) and higher BMI (≥25). Significant association of CVD risk level very low to moderate (<5% to ≥10%) was found with age (p value <0.00001), gender (p value 0.000017), smoking(p value <0.00001), hypertension (p value <0.00001), BMI (p value 0.004742) and diabetes mellitus (p value 0.03025) at 0.05 level of significance. No significant association was found with alcohol use at 0.05 level of significance. Interventional strategies were provided by raising health awareness on lifestyle modifications, improving dietary habit and engaging in physical and mindful activities. This study reveals that majority of the sample had a low risk of CVD, a small but obvious portion of the population have a high risk. It also focuses on the inconsistencies among the samples in terms of age, gender, smoking, alcohol use, hypertension, BMI. The use of WHO Non-Laboratory based chart for risk stratification reduces the over dependence on laboratory investigations for CVD risk estimation in resource limited settings. A CVD risk score of 20% or more indicates a significant likelihood of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or strokes. Identified high risk individuals need referral for second examination as the bio-chemical measurement was excluded in the present study. Follow-up can be done to assess the effectiveness of interventional strategies in reducing the risk of CVD. The study suggest regular screening and early detection of cardio-vascular risk factors to prevent cardio-vascular events. Targeted interventions need to be developed to address the specific needs of this high-risk population. Health education on the importance of lifestyle modification, risk factor management and regular health check-ups such as monitoring of Blood Pressure , Blood Sugar regularly and also cessation of smoking, drinking should be emphasized among the populations periodically and community health workers need to be trained to provide CVD risk prevention awareness and support high risk population. The study recommends further investigation of CVD risk assessment of the second hand smokers as 17.55%, non-smokers in the present study were found to have moderate to high (≥10%) CVD risk.