Study reveals high risk of cardiovascular diseases

By Joseph Varghese/Staff ReporterMore than 70% of the participants of the Qatar Bio Bank study are at the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases due to being overweight or obese. The findings of the pilot phase of the study that included 1,200 samples, collected between September 2013 and October 2014, were released Wednesday.Until January 15 this year, Qatar Biobank recorded 2006 participants, comprising 1,500 Qataris and 506 expatriates who have lived in Qatar for more than 15 years.According to the findings, 76.6 % % of male and 70.4% female participants are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. About 73% of the sample population were classified as overweight and obese and 37% of the population was classified as obese.The findings were released at a media interaction at the Student Centre of Hamd Bin Khalifa University. Dr. Hanan al- Kuwari, chairperson of Qatar Biobank Board of Trustees; Dr Hadi Abderrahim, managing director of Qatar Biobank and Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra, chairman of Medicine Department, Hamad Medical Corporation were present during the event.The study points out that 37% of the participants have borderline or high levels of total cholesterol. Similarly, 52.7% of male and 31.7% of female participants were categorised as hypertensive. 21.3% of male and 15.6% of female participants who were categorised as hypertensive were undergoing treatment for hypertension.The pilot phase report also reveals that 80% of the sample population reported no level of moderate physical activity per week. A total of 45.2% of the participants were referred to Hamad Medical Clinic for Biobank and other primary healthcare centres for further clinical treatment as they were suffering from various diseases.Out of these, 373 (70%) were unaware that they had a disease. While 25% of referrals were due to abnormal bone density and low blood calcium rates, 19% of referrals were due to high cholesterol; 18% of referrals were due to diabetes and 17% were due to high blood pressure.Another significant finding was that 69.8% of male and 68.3% of female participants recorded below average vitamin D levels, while 12.5% of male and 16.5% of female participants suffer from severe vitamin D deficiency.Dr al-Kuwari pointed out that Qatar Biobank aims to build one of the world’s largest population-based biobanks, and the volunteers to the biobank are contributing to improving the health of the people of Qatar. "Qatar Biobank is committed to raising the Arab world’s profile in the field of biomedical research, leading efforts for greater regional collaboration in this field, and creating an invaluable resource for research to develop medical treatments for an Arab population.” “As Qatar’s scientists and scholars continue to engage in the shift from traditional genomics as the mapping of an individual’s DNA, to population-based studies that will improve the lives of future generations, the ongoing medical research on the causes of prevalent diseases in Qatar and the initial findings of the pilot phase once again reveal the value of the work underway at Qatar Biobank,” said Dr Abderrahim.