• Janko Janković, Jelena Marinković, Dragana Stojisavljević, Miloš Erić, Nadja Vasiljević, and Slavenka Janković.
• 1 Institute of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia drjankojankovic@yahoo.com.
• Eur J Public Health. 2016 Feb 1; 26 (1): 152-8.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to determine sex differences in the prevalence of cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics according to the CVH status.MethodsThe cross-sectional, population-based study involved 2250 women and 1920 men aged ≥18 years that participated in the 2010 National Health Survey in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prevalence of CVH behaviours (smoking, body mass index, physical activity, diet), CVH factors (cholesterol, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure, plus smoking) and ideal CVH were estimated according to the American Heart Association criteria for ideal, intermediate and poor levels. Association between sex and ideal CVH categories was analyzed with multivariable logistic regression analysis across three age stratums.ResultsA higher prevalence of ideal CVH metrics was seen in women for smoking status, body mass index, healthy diet score and blood pressure, and in men for physical activity and total cholesterol. Women from all age groups had better CVH behaviours (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40 for the youngest; OR = 2.05 for middle-aged; and OR = 2.03 for older-aged women), while only women from the youngest age group had better CVH factors (OR = 5.09). In line with this, ideal overall CVH prevailed in younger and middle-aged women in comparison to men of the same ages (OR = 3.01 and OR = 2.25, respectively), while disappeared in older ones.ConclusionsSignificant differences in the prevalence of CVH metrics between men and women in the Republic of Srpska should be considered in cardiovascular disease prevention.© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

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