TITLE:
Common Modifiable and Non-Modifiable Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) among Pacific Countries
AUTHORS:
Masoud Mohammadnezhad, Tamara Mangum, William May, Joshua Jeffrey Lucas, Stanley Ailson
KEYWORDS:
Cardiovascular Disease, Modifiable Risk Factors, Non-Modifiable Risk Factors, Pacific
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery,
Vol.6 No.11,
November
30,
2016
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors contribute to the significant
rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), most notably cardiovascular disease
(CVD), in the Pacific Island nations. The aim of this study is to review previously
published articles to understand common modifiable and non-modifiable
risk factors of CVD among Pacific countries. Methods: This systematic review is
conducted using different databases including; Scopus, Medline, EMBASE, and
psycINFO. This systematic review is based on the Cochrane review process. All articles
published in the English language from 1st January 2000 to 1st September 2016,
will be included in the study. After reviewing all of the articles’ titles, abstracts, and
full text, the final articles were reviewed and the relevant data was included in the
data extraction sheet. A descriptive analysis was conducted to measure the common
risk factors of CVD in Pacific countries. Results: Overall, 45 articles met the inclusion
criteria of the study. The results showed that age was the most common
non-modifiable risk factor while diabetes, high blood lipid, and high blood pressure
were the most common modifiable risk factors of CVD. There were only three interventional
studies which had all of the significant influences in reducing the risk factors
of CVD when the results were compared with the control group. Conclusion: While it is not possible to change the non-modifiable risk factors for CVD, we encourage
policy makers to use the results of this study to develop health promotion
strategies to address the modifiable risk factors for CVD. Interventional strategies are
highly recommended in the Pacific countries to tackle the modifiable risk factors for
CVD.