Atherosclerosis - risk factors and its impact on the older smokers in Holguin province, Cuba

Introduction: atherosclerosis, its risk factors and associated diseases have been reviewed for decades. So, its multifactorial origin becomes it a continuing interest of study. Objective: characterization of the risk factors for atherosclerosis in the older smokers from the Hogar de Ancianos Pedro Vázquez Hidalgo, Holguín, in 2019. Method: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out, in which a total of 104 older smokers of 60 years old or older and both sex were involved. All variables studied were obtained from the medical records: age, sex, toxic habits associated with smoking (alcohol and/or coffee), nutritional evaluation, laboratory tests (blood glucose, uric acid, triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol) and cardiovascular diseases associated to the atherosclerosis (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, ischemic heart disease, chronic kidney disease, peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease). Results: male sex predominated in the age group of 75 years old or older (56.6%), while the consumption of coffee and alcohol linked with smoking predominated in the female sex (61.9%). There was adequate nutrition in both sexes (29%). The HDL-cholesterol tests were elevated in 80.9% of the female sex and 94% of the male sex, in addition to an increasing triglycerides in 37.3% of the latter. Both hypertension (90.5%) and ischemic heart disease (66.6%) were most common risk factors observed in women. Conclusions: the study of risk factors for atherosclerosis in older smokers such as toxic habits, nutritional evaluation, among others, are very important for preventing related disease complications in in this population group