ORIGINAL ARTICLE Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in Punjab, Pakistan: a cross-sectional study Faiza Zubair 1 & Syed Kashif Nawaz 1 & Ammara Nawaz 2 & Hasnain Nangyal 3 & Naila Amjad 2 & Muhammad Saleem Khan 4 Received: 9 November 2017 /Accepted: 4 January 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Aim The purpose of the present study was to measure the frequency of CVDs and some of the risk factors and to familiarize people with information on the high rates of mortality and morbidity due to CVDs in the studied areas of Punjab, Pakistan. Subjects Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of sudden death. CVDs are a major health problem in Pakistan, and the number of patients is increasing daily. Aim The purpose of the present study was to measure the frequency of CVDs and some of the risk factors and to familiarize people with information on the high rates of mortality and morbidity due to CVDs in the studied areas of Punjab, Pakistan. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the local population of 53 cities in Punjab, Pakistan. A total of 6351 individuals were contacted to collect data using a questionnaire from October 2014 to September 2015. Data were collected directly by meeting the participants or indirectly through relatives and friends. Results Of the participants, 49.2% (3127/6351) were male and 50.8% (3224/6351) female. The data showed that 17.5% (1109/6351) of the population had CVDs with 16.6% (519/3127) being male and 18.3% (590/3224) female. Conclusion This study concluded that CVDs are a serious problem for both genders and affected 17.5% of the studied population. Diseases are more common in females than males with young age of onset. An inactive lifestyle, low level of activity and family history of disease could be disease risk factors in the study area. Keywords Cardiovascular disease . Cohort study . Onset age . Sargodha . Punjab . Pakistan Background A disease related to the circulatory system in humans is known as a cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVDs are a major health problem in Pakistan, and the number of patients is increasing daily. CVDs caused about 16.7 million deaths in 2000 and 17 million in 2008, with more casualties in females (Rosamond et al. 2008; WHO 2011). This disease causes 25% of the total deaths in developed and 80% in middle- and low- income countries (Yarmohammadian et al. 2012). CVD also causes 85% of the global disabilities (Alwan et al. 2011). In the USA, 250,000 women die from CVDs annually (Hosseini et al. 2011). On the Asian subcontinent, people are highly susceptible to CADs, which cause many deaths (Joshi et al. 2007). Females are at higher risk of CVDs than males in developing countries (Mosca et al. 2011). The risk factors associated with CVD are smoking, poor diet, high blood cholesterol levels, obesity, insufficient phys- ical activity, physiosocial stress, diabetes and ethnicity (Finucane et al. 2011; Mosca et al. 2011; Ueshima et al. 2008). In Asian women, high cholesterol levels and increased systolic blood pressure cause CVDs (Barzi et al. 2007). Due to westernized lifestyles, the number of young CVD patients is increasing daily in Iran. There are various differences in the mortality and mor- bidity rates according to gender, age, socioeconomic sta- tus, geographical location and ethnicity. The mortality rate due to CVDs is higher at younger ages. Its prevalence is higher in socioeconomically poor compared with wealthy * Muhammad Saleem Khan samiikhan@yahoo.com 1 Department of Zoology, University Of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan 2 Department of Zoology, University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Punjab, Pakistan 3 Department of Botany, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan 4 Department of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan Journal of Public Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-018-0898-4