Assessment of preventable risk factors of cardiovascular diseases among junior college students: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Context:Lifestyle-associated risk factors may begin during childhood and result into cardiovascular diseases in adult life. Thus, a study was conducted among junior college students to assess these preventable risk factors among them.Aims:To estimate (1) Prevalence of risk factors namely physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary habits, tobacco, and alcohol use among them and (2) The proportion of hypertension.Settings and Design:A cross-sectional study was done among 416 11th and 12th standard students from a school of a metropolitan city.Subjects and Methods:Two steps were conducted. Step 1 included an interview schedule and Step 2 involved anthropometry, pulse, and blood pressure of all the participants. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 21. Chi-square test was applied.Results:The prevalence of tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and unhealthy dietary habits were 5.5%, 5%, 74.5%, and 52.1%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight students was 13.9%. The prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was 26.9% and 12.7%, respectively.Conclusions:It was concluded that these risk factors namely, physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary habits, tobacco, and alcohol consumption commence during adolescence.