High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in university students from Chile

Among 783 students from the University of Talca in Chile (a sample amounting to 15% of all students), 12.8% had some degree of hypertension, 45.5% of men and 24.3% of women were either overweight or obese, 39.8% admitted being smokers, and 91.5% did not participate in any significant physical activity. Furthermore, hypercholesterolaemia (=200 mg/dL) was present in 20.2% and the metabolic syndrome in around 1%. Therefore, regular publicity campaigns aimed to improve lifestyle should be launched so as to decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in this population.

Abstract