For two weeks, 15 female students in the 1st and 2nd years of Medicine at the University of Navarra carried out an epidemiological study in Cáseda (Navarra) designed at the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at campus in Pamplona. Their work consisted of collecting data by means of a survey to study the relationship between healthy lifestyle habits, per diem expenses and risk of cardiovascular disease in the population. Almost all the persons interviewed already had a periodic follow-up at their Health Center.

The epidemiological study involved 110 people aged 55 to 95 years. The majority of those interviewed were women (69%, compared to 31% men).

Cardiovascular risk and per diem expenses mediterranean

After analyzing data it was observed that 87% of the individuals surveyed had never smoked, 84% of whom were women. Only 5% of the population were current smokers (80% of them men), while the remaining 18% were former smokers, the majority of whom were also men (94%). In addition, 46% of the population had high blood pressure and almost 65% suffered from hypercholesterolemia (excess cholesterol in the blood).

A very important part of the study focused on the subject of per diem expenses followed by the people interviewed (information was collected on more than 100 foods) and its comparison with the Mediterranean per diem expenses , considered protective for cardiovascular disease.