An introspection into Behavioral Risk Factors and Clinical Risk Factors Leading to NonCommunicable Disease
1Umar Tipu, 2Dr. Seema Yasmeen, 3Mansoor Musa, 4Qamar Abbas, 5Isma Abbas, 6Faiza Maqsood
1Sir Gangaran Hospital Lahore.
2MBBS, MCPS, Associate Professor Community Medicine, Shahida Islam Medical and Dental College, Lodhran.
3Mayo Hospital Lahore
4UHS Lahore
5UHS Lahore
6UHS Lahore.
ABSTRACT:
Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) had become one of the main causes of morbidity and death in most parts of the world and considerable as a burden to health facilities. Unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption as behavioral risk factors and hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity as clinical factors have been declared significant contributors to NCDs development. It was important to understand the interactions between these risk factors with respect to putting in place specific prevention strategies.
Aim: The research strived to estimate the predominance of behavioral and clinical risk factors causing non-communicable diseases in the population under the study and determine the correlation between all these risk factors.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional research that had been carried out at Shahida Islam medical and dental college Lodhran between June 2024 and May 2025. The sample size was 100 people and the sample used was a systematic random design of selecting the sample. Structured questionnaire had already been used to collect the data, which measured risk behavior (dietary habits, physical activity level, smoking, and alcohol consumption). There were clinical risk factors, including blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose and lipid profile that were measured using standardized protocols. A statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS version 25, and the results were described in terms of descriptive statistics and associations between behavioral and clinical risk factors were determined via chi-square tests.
Results: The outcomes showed that 42 percent of the respondents were physically inactive, 35 percent had been on high fats diets, whereas 28 percent were active smokers. Clinically, 38 percent of them had hypertension, 32 percent were overweight or obese, 25 percent had increased fasting blood glucose and 21 percent showed dyslipidemia. A high correlation was discovered between physical inactivity and obesity (p < 0.05), high fat dietary consumption and dyslipidemia (p < 0.05). Further, those individuals having more behavioral risk factors developed increased chances of having at least one clinical risk factor indicating a scaler effect on NCD risk.
Conclusion: It was reported that the population showed a significant prevalence of both behavioral and clinical risk factors with regard to NCDs. The reported correlations highlighted the necessity of coordinated community-based responses based on a lifestyle change, early testing, and health education to reduce the epidemiological impact of non-communicable diseases that continue a steady increase. Keywords: Non-communicable diseases, Behavioral risk factors, Clinical risk factors, Hypertension, Obesity, Lifestyle modification, Prevention.