OBJECTIVE: The present work aimed to evaluate the different risk factors (RF) of coronary artery disease (CAD) in a university hospital volunteer employees, regarding the correlation with psychological stress. METHODS: Fifty-two volunteers participated in the study (41 females and 11 males), which included anthropometric measurement, clinical examination, and measurement of the arterial blood pressure. Arterial blood was collected from them to quantify the levels of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides (TG), and LDL-cholesterol (LDL). The body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were determined. The participants have also answered a questionnaire regarding stress. The different RF were quantified and evaluated. RESULTS: From the participants, 73.1% were considered stressed, 32.7% were hypertenses, and 36.5% had TC > 200mg dl-1. Females were significantly more stressed than man (p < .05), and proportionally males had more HDL < 40mg dl-1 than females (p < .05). The stressed people also presented TC above 200mg dl-1 (p < .05). The coronary artery disease risk was low for 53.8% of the people, medium for 23.1%, moderate for 21.2%, and high for 2.6%. The waist-to-hip risk was high in 15% of the stressed patients, in 35,5% of hypertenses, and in 10.5% in the ones with TC > 200mg/dl. The body mass risk was considered low for most of the stressed, hypertenses, and the ones with TC > 200mg dl-1. CONCLUSION: This study shows the importance of the psychological stress in the evaluation of different RF for CAD and this knowledge is very important in the preventive intervention for this disease.
Coronary heart disease; Psychological stress; Coronary heart risk factors
