Lifestyle has a strong role in the development of cardiovascular disease. A healthy lifestyle includes healthy diet, daily physical activity and smoking abstention. An unhealthy diet can lead to hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, which, together with physical inactivity and smoking, are the most relevant modifiable risk factors. Surveys conducted with internationally standardized procedures and methods are the main source of information on these risk factors. See the EHRM project.


Personal biological factors:

• prevalence of hypertension: number of persons with systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 140/90 mmHg, or undergoing specific treatment divided by the total population
• proportion of hypertensives under control: number of hypertensives undergoing specific treatment, with systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure equal to or lower than 140/90 mmHg, divided by total number of hypertensives
• prevalence of hypercholesterolemia: number of persons with serum total cholesterol equal to or greater than 193 mg/dl (5.0 mmol/l) or undergoing specific treatment divided by total population
• prevalence of overweight: number of persons with body mass index equal to or greater than 25kg/m² and lower than 30kg/m² divided by total population
• prevalence of obesity: number of persons with body mass index equal to or greater than 30kg/m² divided by total population.

Health behaviours:

• prevalence of physical inactivity during leisure time: number of persons not engaged in any physical activity during their leisure time divided by total population
• prevalence of current, former and non-smokers: number of persons included within each of these categories divided by total population
• number of cigarettes smoked per day: number of cigarettes smoked per day divided by total number of current smokers.