Feasibility of Development of a Cohort in a Rural Area of Sub-Himalayan Region of India to Assess the Emergence of Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Factors

Introduction. Rural area of India is facing epidemiological transitions due to growth and development, warranting a longitudinal study to assess the development of CVDs risk factors. Objective. Feasibility of setting up a rural cohort for the assessment and development of biochemical risk factors for CVDs. Methodology. In Himachal Pradesh, house-to-house surveys were carried out in six villages for anthropometry and assessment of lipid profile. All the information was stored in specifically designed web-based software, which can be retrieved at any time. Results. A total of 2749 individuals of more than 20 years of age were recruited with a 14.3% refusal rate. According to Asian criteria, measured overweight and obesity (BMI？>？27.5？kg/m2) were 44.9% and 10.5%, respectively. Obesity was significantly more ( ) among females (11.7%) as compared to males (8.4%). The prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was observed to be 16.3% and 37.4%, respectively. Eighty percent of individuals had borderline (46.5%) to high (35.4%) level of triglycerides (TGs). Elevated total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) level were observed among 30.0% and 11.0% individuals only. Conclusion. A high prevalence of biochemical risk factors for CVDs in a rural area urges establishment of an effective surveillance system. 1. Introduction In India, approximately half of the mortality is due to chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes mellitus (DM), and cancer [1]. In urban areas of India, the weighted prevalence of ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and DM was 25.3 and 118.0 per 1000 population, respectively [2]. During the last 25 years the risk factors for IHD like obesity, hypertension, and DM were observed to be highly prevalent in urban communities of India [3]. This was due to changing environmental factors like physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, stress, tobacco, and alcohol [4, 5]. Similar to urban areas, chronic disease was also found in countrified areas and IHD-related deaths contributed significantly to mortality in rural areas [6–8]. As a result, a geographical epidemiological transition has occurred throughout the country. This might be due to changing socioeconomic status in rural areas because of urbanization [9], as most parts of the rural areas in India are close to urban areas (cities/big cities and towns). Therefore, recruiting and following up of individuals in rural areas provide an opportunity to understand the complex interplay of urbanization and occurrence of chronic diseases. The hypothesis of “developmental origins”