Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in non-institutionalized elderly

INTRODUCTION: As people live longer, prevalence of diseases in which age is risk factor increase, as cardiovascular disease OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in non-institutionalized elderly by different age and sex groups. METHOD: Cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of non-institutionalized elderly. The variables hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and abdominal adiposity were investigated. The chi-square test was used to analyze statistical differences. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and abdominal fat were, respectively, 82.30% for woman and 76.81 for men (p>0.05), 43.64% for woman and 25.48% for men (p<0.05), 47.40% for woman and 36.12% for men (p<0.05) and 76.16% for woman and 41.06% for men (p<0.05). Prevalence of overweight was lowest in the age group >80 year. CONCLUSION: Older woman may be considered as the most vulnerable group for cardiovascular disease, with variables above recommended, and higher prevalence of arterial hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and abdominal adiposity. Regarding age group, we identified prevalence in overweight only, as age advances.