Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in College Students in the Brazilian Western Amazon Region

Lucas Felipe De Macedo,Orivaldo Florencio De Souza,Tatiane Dalamaria,Luiz Carlos De Abreu,Margarida De Aquino Cunha

doi:10.4236/health.2014.619314

Lucas Felipe De Macedo, Orivaldo Florencio De Souza + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2014.619314

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Journal: Health	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
Citations: 22	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade Federal do Acre

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) and associated lifestyle factors in college students in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazilian Western Amazon region. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 874 undergraduate students from a public university. The general prevalence of CNCDs was 15.6%. After adjusting for sex and age, the CNCD-associated lifestyle factors included the following: sedentary during leisure time (prevalence ratio (PR): 1.67; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12 - 2.48), sedentary in locomotion by walking (PR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.00 - 1.79), current smoker (PR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.07 - 2.58), unsatisfactory self-rated health status (PR: 2.31; 95% CI: 1.84 - 2.88), overweight (PR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.14 - 2.46) and obese (PR: 3.30; 95% CI: 2.18 - 5.01). The high prevalence of CNCDs identified in this group of college students highlights the need for swift action to promote healthy lifestyles among youth.

Highlights

Chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs), being a global public health concern [1]-[3], are characterized by long duration, slow progression and non-infectious
Males showed a higher prevalence of CNCDs than females (18.1% compared with 13.9%)
The majority of the college students were younger than 30 years old (81.2%); they did not suffer from changes resulting from senescence, which would predispose them to the onset of CNCDs

Summary

Introduction

Chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs), being a global public health concern [1]-[3], are characterized by long duration, slow progression and non-infectious. Alcohol abuse, obesity, smoking, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are the major risk factors contributing to CNCDs [4]. These diseases are associated with poverty and socioeconomic inequality [5]. In this context, a high prevalence of CDCNs occurs in developing countries, such as Brazil (32.6%), [6] South Africa (50.7%) [7] and Vietnam (33.4%) [8]. Regional disparities were identified in Brazil; the southern and southeastern regions had a lower CNCDs prevalence than the northern and northeastern regions did, which were the poorest regions in Brazil [1]

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