Purpose: Evidence indicates that cigarette smoking is one of the most common causes of mortality and morbidity in developed and developing countries in present times. Smoking and metabolic syndrome emerged to be major cardiovascular risks, which contribute to metabolic disturbance, systemic inflammation, atherosclerotic cardiovascular events and mortality burden. However, the associations of smoking and cardio-metabolic risks in disabled adult men have not been described. The aim of the study is to explore the prevalence of smoking, cardio-metabolic disturbance and associated factors among men adults with disabilities in Chiayi County, Taiwan.
Methods: A nurse-led health promotion program for community adults with disabilities was launched from July 2013 to December 2014. This study collaborated with a local hospital and the Chiayi Bureau of Health Promotion, Taiwan. The inclusion criteria were (1) male gender with a certified disability; (2) age > 20 years, ability to complete the questionnaire with or without assistance; (3) ability to walk to the study setting; and (4) ability to sign an informed consent form. Before conducting this study, the institutional ethical committee review board was approved (No 102-3331B). The collaborating of Chiayi Bureau of Health Promotion sent a cover letter with the detail information of free check-up to invite them to participate in this study. The research team described the purpose and procedure of the study to all candidates, such as the time spent the procedure of the withdrawal of blood sample and interview contents. All participants have completed their written informed consent. Each participant was interviewed in a private setting in a middle school’s auditorium.
Results: Of the total 1526 participants enrolled in this study, 874 male samples with complete data were analyzed. The mean age was 55.6 years (range: 18-90). Nearly one-third of participants classified as physically and visually impaired, 27% was mental retardation. Adopting regular exercise (64.1%), intake of water ≥ 1500 cc per day (53.7%), intake vegetable ≥ 3 portions per day (28.7%), intake fruit ≥ 2 portions per day (19.6%). The prevalence of cigarette smoking and metabolic syndrome were 42% and 33.3%, respectively. More than half had high blood pressure (62.7%) and 43.5% with central obesity. To compare with the non-smokers, smokers tended to less adopting regular exercise (p<0.001), eating less adequate portions of vegetable and water (p<0.05). After adjusting for potential confounding variables, multivariate analysis showed that the smoking was an independent factor of cardio-metabolic risk factors (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.13–2.03).
Conclusion: The findings indicate that disability adult men show a high prevalence of cigarette smoking, unhealthy lifestyle, and cardio-metabolic risk factors. Clinicians and community nurses could reduce the consequences of these risk factors and improve cardio-metabolic health through the initiation of smoking cessation and health-promoting programs.
