INTRODUCTION: The risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are associated with coronary atherosclerosis and having multiple risk factors potentiates atherosclerosis. This study examined the prevalence of multiple biological and lifestyle/behavioral risk factors and their association with coronary artery calcium (CAC), a marker for subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 1607 community-dwelling asymptomatic individuals from central Appalachia who participated in CAC screening between January 2011 and December 2012. Data on demographics (sex and age) and 7 traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) were collected and categorized into 5 groups (0-1, 2, 3, 4, and ≥5). Prevalence of these risk factors and CAC scores (0, 1-99, 100-399, ≥400) were assessed, and the impact of the number of risk factors on CAC scores were delineated using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Over 98% of participants had ≥1 risk factor. While obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and family history of CAD significantly increased the odds of having CAC, CAC scores significantly increased with number of risk factors. After adjusting for demographic factors, having 3, 4, and ≥5 risk factors was significantly associated with increased odds of having higher CAC scores when compared to zero CAC score by more than one and half times [OR=1.65, CI (1.20-2.25)], two times [OR=2.32, CI (1.67-3.23)] and three times [OR=3.45, CI (2.42-4.92)], respectively. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of multiple risk factors in the study population suggests the need for aggressive multiple risk factors interventions for primary prevention of CAD, which could address CVD health disparities.

Ce travail a pour objectifs de déterminer la prévalence des maladies coronariennes (MC) au Liban, de décrire le profil des personnes qui en souffrent, d'explorer la tendance de l'hypertension artérielle (HTA), du diabète et de la dyslipidémie à se regrouper chez les mêmes individus, et enfin d'évaluer le contrôle de l'HTA. Une étude transversale fut menée au niveau national. Un échantillon de 1515 individus fut choisi. Des données sur les caractéristiques sociodémographiques, sur les facteurs de risque (FDR) les plus importants de la MC et l'histoire médicale des participants furent collectées. Le clustering des FDR biologiques (FDRbio) fut examiné par la méthode du ratio de cas observés sur les cas attendus. Notre travail a révélé une MC prématurée avec une prévalence de 13.4%, a confirmé la pertinence des FDR classiques dans la population libanaise, a montré que les FDRbio se regroupent plus fréquemment qu'attendu et a révélé un contrôle insuffisant de l'HTA. / This thesis aimed to determine the prevalence of coronary heart diseases (CHD) in Lebanon, to describe the profile of people who suffer from it, to explore the tendency of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia to cluster in the same individuals beyond what could be attributed to chance, and finally to evaluate the control of high blood pressure. A national cross-sectional study was conducted by choosing a sample of 1515 individuals. We collected data on sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, their medical history and the most important risk factors (RFs) for CHD. The clustering of biological RFs (bioRFs) was assessed using the observed to expected ratio method. Our work revealed premature CHD with a prevalence of 13.4%, confirmed the relevance of classic RFs of CHD and their applicability to the Lebanese population, showed that bioRFs cluster more often than expected, and revealed an insufficient control of hypertension.