Health and longevity in relation to CHD risk factors in a tribal population of India

High prevalence of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) in parallel with economic development is observed among South Asian Countries. It is very much surprise to observe a tribal population of Kerala (Kurichias), India are having lengthy longevity who are free from age-associated chronic problems. Hence, we conducted a survey to evaluate the prevalence of obesity, central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia & smoking habits in a random simple of 410 (225 male +185 female) subjects. The prevalence (age standardized to the world population of Segi 95% CI and the discussion paper of World Health Organization) was: obesity 2.87 (1.22-4.53), central obesity 3.71 (2.27-5.15), hypertension 2.70 (1.92-3.38), hypercholesterolemia 0.71 (0.66-0.76), hypertriglyceridemia 2.60 (1.18-4.02) and low high density lipoprotein cholesterol 1.24 (1.07-1.42). The metabolic and anthropometric measurements in the study sample showed lower compared to other Indian and Western studies. The low prevalence of CHD risk factors in Kurichias could be attributed to the stress free economic activities and intake of coarse variety of grain and leading a healthy longevity.