Evaluation of some risk factors for ischaemic heart disease under a matched pairs case-control design

A pair-wise matched case-control study was carried out in 200 male patients of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). The cases were matched with an equal number of controls in respect of the variables viz., age and socio-economic status. The objective was to quantify the risk of developing IHD for some of the leading risk factors under the univariate and multivariate situations. The analysis revealed that of the factors (smoking, overweight, hypertension, diabetes, serum cholesterol and family history) considered, the smoking habit of the individual, presence of family history of the disease and overweight were the significant risk factors responsible for the development of the disease. The estimated odds ratios were found to be 3.29, 2.60 and 2.00 respectively.