Abstract
BACKGROUND: Coronary artery diseases (CADs) are the most important non‑communicable diseases (NCDs), which cause the highest number of deaths around the world. Hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia (DL), diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity (OB), low physical activity (LPA), smoking, opium consumption (OC) and anxiety are the most important CAD risk factors, which are more dangerously present in combination in some patients. METHODS: A total of 5835 people aged 15 to 75 years were enrolled in the phase 1 (2012) and followed up to the phase 2 (2017) of the population-based Kerman coronary artery diseases risk factors study (KERCADRS). The prevalence and pattern of different combinations of CAD risk factors (double to quintuple) and their 5-year incidence rates were assessed. RESULTS: The prevalence of single CAD risk factors (RFs) in phase 2 was 50.2% (DL), 47.1% (LPA), 28.1% (abdominal obesity), 21.2% (OB), 16.5% (HTN), 9.2% (smoking), 9.1% (OC), and 8.4% (DM). The most frequent combination of risk factors was LPA plus DL (23.9%), metabolic syndrome (19.6%), and DL plus OB (17.8%). The 5-year incidence rates of multiple comorbidities (in persons per 100 person-years) was DL plus LPA (2.80%), HTN plus DL (1.53%), and abdominal obesity (AOB) plus DL (1.47%). The most participants (84.4%) suffered from at least one RF, while 54.9% had at least two and 29.9% had at least three RFs. CONCLUSION: The results showed that a large portion of the study population suffers from multiple CAD RFs. The findings underscore the importance of identifying multiple CAD risk factors to reduce the overall burden of these NCDs.