Major cardiovascular risk factors in Latin America: a comparison with the United States. The Latin American Consortium of Studies in Obesity (LASO).

Background: Limited knowledge on the prevalence and distribution of risk factors impairs the planning and implementation of cardiovascular prevention programs in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region.

Methods And Findings: Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, abnormal lipoprotein levels, obesity, and smoking were estimated from individual-level patient data pooled from population-based surveys (1998-2007, n=31,009) from eight LAC countries and from a national survey of the United States (US) population (1999-2004) Age and gender specific prevalence were estimated and age-gender adjusted comparisons between both populations were conducted. Prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol in LAC were 5% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 3.

Analysis of population genetic structure from Bucaramanga (Colombia) based on gene polymorphisms associated with the regulation of blood pressure.

Introduction: In spite of nearly 40% of variability in blood pressure being explained by genetic factors, the identification of genes associated with essential high blood pressure is difficult to determine in populations where individuals have different genetic backgrounds. In these circumstances it is necessary to determinate whether the population is sub-structured because this can bias studies associated with this disease.

Objective: TO DETERMINE THE GENETIC STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION IN BUCARAMANGA FROM GENETIC POLYMORPHISMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE REGULATION OF BLOOD PRESSURE: 448G>T, 679C>T y 1711C>T from the gene kinase 4 of the dopaminergic receptor linked to the protein G and Glu298Asp, -786T>C and the VNTR of the intron 4 of the gene of endothelial nitric oxide.

Accuracy of the Omron HEM-705 CP for blood pressure measurement in large epidemiologic studies.

Background: Accurate measurement of blood pressure is of utmost importance in hypertension research. In the context of epidemiologic and clinical studies, oscillometric devices offer important advantages to overcome some of the limitations of the auscultatory method. Even though their accuracy has been evaluated in multiple studies in the clinical setting, there is little evidence of their performance in large epidemiologic studies.

Population-based case-control study of renin-angiotensin system genes polymorphisms and hypertension among Hispanics.

The effect of polymorphisms of the RAS genes on the incidence of hypertension seems to be population-dependent. We studied the effects of the angiotensinogen T174M and M235T, angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion (ACE I/D), and angiotensin II receptor 1 (AT1R) A1166C gene polymorphisms on the risk of hypertension among Hispanics. We selected all cases (n=256) and 257 age and sex group-matched controls from a random sample of free living Colombians (n=2,989).

Prevalence and impact of cardiovascular risk factors in Bucaramanga, Colombia: results from the Countrywide Integrated Noncommunicable Disease Intervention Programme (CINDI/CARMEN) baseline survey.

Background: Although cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in the region, there are few data on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in Latin American. We studied the distribution and impact of cardiovascular risk factors in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a random sample of 2989 subjects 15-64 years old.