Cardiovascular and other risk factors among people who live in slums in Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Published in: Public health (London) 2019-05, Vol.170, p.38-44
• Main Authors: Doval, H.C., Mariani, J., Gómez, G.C., Vulcano, L., Parlanti, L., Gavranovic, M.A., Iemma, M., Sanchez, R., Macchia, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Argentina; Blood pressure; Body weight; Cardiovascular diseases; Confidence intervals; Cross-sectional studies; Data; Data structures; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Drinking behavior; Economic factors; Ghettos; Health care; Health information; Health planning; Health policy; Health risks; Health social determinants; Households; Hypertension; Inhabitants; Mental depression; Non-communicable disease; Obesity; Overweight; Policies; Polls & surveys; Population distribution; Reproductive health; REST protein; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Slums; Socioeconomic status
• ISSN: 0033-3506; 1476-5616
• DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2019.02.014

Effective planning of health policies requires the availability of accurate data, representing the burden of disease and risks to the diverse components of society. In Argentina, health information comes from the national risk factors survey (NRFS), which characterises the distribution of different risk factors. However, the NRFS has never collected information from residents living in slums, despite slums representing 10% of the population. The objective of this survey was to characterise the prevalence of cardiovascular and other risk factors among the inhabitants of one of the largest slums in Buenos Aires (Villa 31) and compare it to data from the NRFS. This was a cross-sectional study. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 400 slum households, using the same data structure as the NRFS. The survey obtained information about economic aspects, reproductive health, addictions and risk factors. All participants had their blood pressure, weight and height measured. A total of 406 people were interviewed and their data were compared with data from 32,365 people in the NRFS. All comparisons were made on the basis of age group. A fair/poor self-perceived level of health (odds ratio [OR] 3.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.60–3.91), anxiety and moderate to severe depression (OR 5.44, 95% CI: 4.43–6.69), problem drinking (OR 10.01, 95% CI 8.08–12.40), self-reported hypertension (OR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.01–1.57), overweight (OR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.03–1.55) and obesity (OR 1.72, 95% CI: 1.38–2.15) were significantly higher in the slum population. In people aged 18–24 years, the prevalence of diabetes was triple the national average (OR 3.17, 95% CI: 1.26–7.98). For all evaluated conditions in this study, the inhabitants of the slum received significantly less treatment compared with participants from the NRFS. The prevalence of cardiovascular and other risk factors in the slum population has a different distribution to that reported in the NRFS. These data suggest the need to establish specific policies for slum populations. •Nearly 900 million people live in slums in the developing world.•Slums are poorly studied in relation to non-communicable diseases.•Prevalence of risk factors among slum dwellers and the general population is different.•The burden of obesity, diabetes and hypertension are higher in the slum population.•Dangerous use of alcohol, anxiety and depression among slum dwellers are also higher.