The Ticking Time Bomb in lifestyle-related diseases among women in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries; Review of systematic reviews
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
This study aims to review all published systematic reviews on the prevalence of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors among women from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC). This is the first review of other systematic reviews that concentrates on lifestyle related diseases among women in GCC countries only.
Method
Literature searches were carried out in three electronic databases for all published systematic reviews on the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in the GCC countries between January 2000 and February 2016.
Results
Eleven systematic reviews were identified and selected for our review. Common reported risk factors for cardiovascular disease were obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and hypertension. In GCC countries, obesity among the female population ranges from 29 to 45.7%, which is one of the highest rates globally, and it is linked with physical inactivity, ranging from 45 to 98.7%. The prevalence of diabetes is listed as one of the top ten factors globally, and was reported with an average of 21%. Hypertension ranged from 20.9 to 53%.
Conclusions
The high prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases among women population in GCC is a ticking time bomb and is reaching alarming levels, and require a fundamental social and political changes. These findings highlight the need for comprehensive work among the GCC to strengthen the regulatory framework to decrease and control the prevalence of these factors.
This study aims to review all published systematic reviews on the prevalence of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors among women from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC). This is the first review of other systematic reviews that concentrates on lifestyle related diseases among women in GCC countries only.
Method
Literature searches were carried out in three electronic databases for all published systematic reviews on the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in the GCC countries between January 2000 and February 2016.
Results
Eleven systematic reviews were identified and selected for our review. Common reported risk factors for cardiovascular disease were obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and hypertension. In GCC countries, obesity among the female population ranges from 29 to 45.7%, which is one of the highest rates globally, and it is linked with physical inactivity, ranging from 45 to 98.7%. The prevalence of diabetes is listed as one of the top ten factors globally, and was reported with an average of 21%. Hypertension ranged from 20.9 to 53%.
Conclusions
The high prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases among women population in GCC is a ticking time bomb and is reaching alarming levels, and require a fundamental social and political changes. These findings highlight the need for comprehensive work among the GCC to strengthen the regulatory framework to decrease and control the prevalence of these factors.
Date Issued
2017-06-02
Date Acceptance
2017-04-24
Citation
BMC Public Health, 2017, 17
ISSN
1471-2458
Publisher
BioMed Central
Journal / Book Title
BMC Public Health
Volume
17
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Sponsor
Imperial College Trust
Grant Number
N/A
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Cardiovascular disease
Noncommunicable diseases
Obesity
Diabetes
Hypertension
Smoking
Physical inactivity
Metabolic syndrome
Systematic review
UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS
TOBACCO SMOKING
SAUDI-ARABIA
CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE
DIABETES-MELLITUS
PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY
RISK-FACTORS
MIDDLE-EAST
HEALTH-CARE
PREVALENCE
Public Health
1117 Public Health And Health Services
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
536