ABSTRACT
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally. An estimated 17.5 million people died from CVDs in 2012, representing 31% of all global deaths and three quarter of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among health workers in Gusau, Zamfara state. Four hundred and ten participants were selected from the secondary and tertiary health centres, an adapted WHO STEPS questionnaire administered, socio-demographic, CVD risk factors data, blood samples and anthropometric readings were obtained and analysed using SPSS version 17. The mean age of the respondents was 33years (�9.6SD) and the overall prevalence of hypertension was 8.4%, isolated systolic hypertension 17.7%and isolated diastolic hypertension 11.7%, There was a statistical significant association between systolic blood pressure with age(OR 2.923, 95%CI 1.664-5.135, P=<0.0001) and vigorous exercise,( OR 1.800, 95%CI 1.033-3.136, P=0.03). The diastolic blood pressure was statistically significant with age and addition of salt to diet. Other behavioural variables were not significant. The prevalence of addition of salt to diet (22.9%), use of monosodium glutamate (75.1%) and sitting more than 6hours at work (43.7) was high. Males were more likely to be obese than females, however, females were more likely to have abdominal obesity than males. The percentage of cigarette smoking, blood pressure, obesity and alcohol was comparably lower than the national NCD survey. The prevalence of the cardiovascular risk factors; Diabetes mellitus was high (26.6%), hypertension 8.4% and dyslipidaemia were also low. Obesity and under -nutrition coexist. The State Ministry of Health and other stakeholders should partner to improve the knowledge of cardiovascular disease/ risk factors among the health workers. Key words: Zamfara state, CVD, Health workers, Risk factors.