Purpose: To identify, describe, and evaluate the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors amongst college students.
Method: A convenience sample of college students, ages 18 to 36, were recruited from a large urban university campus via research flyers and several media platforms between March to September 2017. Participants’ blood pressure, body mass index, fasting lipid panel, fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, serum cotinine levels, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and dietary habits were collected.
Results: A total of 148 college students were recruited, 59.5% were female and 36.5% were White. The mean age for the participants was 24. ± 4.58, and most of the participants were between ages 18 to 23 years (62.8%), working on their bachelor’s degree (53.4%), single (77.7%), and had insurance coverage (91.9%). A high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was found amongst the college students: 23.8% were current or past smokers, 65.5% consumed alcoholic beverages on average of 1-2 days per week, 1080 minutes of inactivity per week, 13.5% had elevated blood pressure, 25.7% had hypertension stage I, 3.4% had hypertension stage II, 36.5% were overweight while 19.9% were obese, 14.2% were prediabetic and 2.0% were diabetic, and 40.5% had borderline high cholesterol levels while 3.4% had hyperlipidemia.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicates that college students participate in risky behaviors that predisposes them to developing cardiovascular disease in the future. Unfortunately, most college students are unaware of the health consequences of these cardiovascular risk behaviors. To prevent future development of cardiovascular in college students and decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular in the United States, it is imperative to establish cardiovascular risk awareness and prevention in this population.
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