Risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease in university students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v70.106949Keywords:
Adherence, diet, lifestyles , physical activity, university studentsAbstract
Objective: This study assessed the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease in a group of university students.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 285 university students aged 18 to 39 years (51.9% women) from four universities. Sociodemographic indicators and lifestyle behaviors were assessed using the FANTASTIC and YLSBQ questionnaires. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (KIDMED), depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and physical fitness (PF) were assessed with the Alpha-fitness battery. The average of the four PF components were standardized and transformed into a Z-score called the general physical fitness index. Anthropometric measurements included body mass index (BMI, kg/m²), and waist circumference (WC), the latter as a marker of central obesity. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables. Chi-square tests were applied to examine associations between categorical variables, and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests were used to assess differences in physical fitness and lifestyle indicators by sociodemographic characteristics.
Results: A total of 61.4% of participants were between 20 to 29 years of age, with 88.1% belonging to low or middle socioeconomic strata. Over half of the participants (51.6%) attended public universities, and 82.1% reported engaging in some form of physical activity. Five percent of the population exhibits depressive symptoms. Approximately 20% of students reported unhealthy lifestyle patterns, and low physical fitness levels, while 6.3% were classified as obese.
Conclusion: This population group showed behavioral risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, mainly characterized by excessive screen time, low health-related physical fitness and poor adherence to a healthy diet.
References
Akre, A., & Bhimani, N. (2015). Co-relation between physical fitness index (PFI) and body mass index in asymptomatic college girls. Journal of Exercise Science and Physiotherapy, 11(2), 129-133. https:// /doi/10.3316/informit.472070457242228.
Alarcón, R. A. Y., Burgos, Á. D. E., Morán, N. A. A., Machado, J. D. P., Zúñiga, G. A. P., Lemus, K. N. M., ... & Loor, C. P. (2024). Estilos de vida y riesgo cardiovascular a partir de indicadores antropomé-tricos en estudiantes universitarios. Retos, 61, 1314-1320. https:// /doi/ 10.47197/retos.v61.110464
Alves, R., Precioso, J., & Becoña, E. (2021). Physical activity among Portuguese university students and its relation to knowledge and perceived barriers. Sportis. Scientific Journal of School Sport, Physical Education and Psychomotricity, 7(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.17979/sportis.2021.7.1.6924
Atencio-Osorio, Miguel Alejandro, Hugo Alejandro Carrillo-Arango, María Correa-Rodríguez, Diego Rivera, José Castro-Piñero, and Robinson Ramírez-Vélez. 2021. "Youth Leisure-Time Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire (YLSBQ): Reliability and Validity in Colombian University Stu-dents" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 15: 7895. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157895.
Atencio-Osorio, Miguel Alejandro, Hugo Alejandro Carrillo-Arango, María Correa-Rodríguez, Andrés Felipe Ochoa-Muñoz, and Robinson Ramírez-Vélez. 2020. "Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in College Students: Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of the KIDMED Question-naire" Nutrients 12, no. 12: 3897. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123897
Bennasar-Veny, M., Yañez, A. M., Pericas, J., Ballester, L., Fernandez-Dominguez, J. C., Tauler, P., & Aguilo, A. (2020). Cluster analysis of health-related lifestyles in university students. Interna-tional journal of environmental research and public health,17(5),1776https://www.mdpi.com/16604601/17/5/1776.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051776
Ceccato, V., & Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (2022). Fear of Sexual Harassment and Its Impact on Safety Per-ceptions in Transit Environments: A Global Perspective. Violence Against Women, 28(1), 26-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801221992874
Córdoba García, R., Camarelles Guillem, F., Muñoz Seco, E., Gómez Puente, J. M., San José Arango, J., Ramírez Manent, J. I., Martín Cantera, C., Del Campo Giménez, M., Revenga Frauca, J., & Grupo de Educación Sanitaria y Promoción de la Salud del PAPPS (2020). Grupo de expertos del PA-PPS. Recomendaciones sobre el estilo de vida [PAPPS expert group. Lifestyle recommenda-tions]. Atencion primaria, 52 Suppl 2(Suppl 2), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aprim.2020.07.004
Chacón-Cuberos, R., Zurita-Ortega, F., Ubago-Jiménez, J. L., González-Valero, G., & Sánchez-Zafra, M. (2018). Condición física, dieta y ocio digital según práctica de actividad física en estudiantes universitarios de Granada. SPORT TK-Revista EuroAmericana de Ciencias del Deporte, 7-12. https://doi.org/10.6018/sportk.343121 [ Links ]
Chrismas BCR, Majed L, Kneffel Z (2019) Physical fitness and physical self-concept of male and female young adults in Qatar. PLoS ONE 14 (10): e0223359. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0223359
De Dienheim-Barriguete, P. J., De Dienheim, R. S., & De Dienheim, I. S. S. (2020). Evolución de las en-fermedades no transmisibles en el mundo. Milenaria, Ciencia y arte, (15), 9-11. https://doi.org/10.35830/mcya.vi15.86
Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. (2023). Defunciones no fetales2023. https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por tema/salud/nacimientos-y-defunciones/defunciones-no-fetales/defunciones-no-fetales-2023
Díaz, E. C., Gaspar, P. L. R., & Méndez, S. C. (2024). Efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico con enfo-que sanológico en universitarios. Medicina UPB, 43(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.18566/medupb.v43n1.a03
Escobar Díaz, G. L., Orozco Molina, a. n. g. é. l. i. c. a., Núñez Montes, J. R., & Muñoz, F. L. (2020). Morta-lidad por Enfermedades Cardiovasculares en Colombia 1993-2017. Un análisis de las políticas públicas. Revista Salud Uninorte, 36(3), 558-570. https://doi.org/10.14482/sun.36.3.616.12
Espejo, Juan Pablo, Tumani, María Fernanda, Aguirre, Carolina, Sanchez, Julieta, & Parada, Alejandra. (2022). Educación alimentaria nutricional: Estrategias para mejorar la adherencia al plan die-toterapéutico. Revista chilena de nutrición, 49(3), 391-398. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/s0717-75182022000300391
Frieden, T. R., Cobb, L. K., Leidig, R. C., Mehta, S., & Kass, D. (2020). Reducing Premature Mortality from Cardiovascular and Other Non-Communicable Diseases by One Third: Achieving Sustain-able Development Goal Indicator 3.4.1. Global heart, 15(1), 50. https://doi.org/10.5334/gh.53
García, G. C., Secchi, J. D., & Cappa, D. F. (2013). Comparación del consumo máximo de oxígeno predic-tivo utilizando diferentes test de campo incrementales: UMTT, VAM-EVAL y 20m-SRT. Arch Med Deporte, 155, 156-62. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285840147
Gardani, M., Bradford, D. R., Russell, K., Allan, S., Beattie, L., Ellis, J. G., & Akram, U. (2022). A systemat-ic review and meta-analysis of poor sleep, insomnia symptoms and stress in undergraduate students. Sleep medicine reviews, 61, 101565 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101565
Global status report on alcohol and health 2018. Ginebra, Organización Mundial de la Salud, 2018 (https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/274603/9789241565639-eng.pdf?ua=1), consultado el 7 de abril de 2023.
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) Healthcare Access and Quality Index 1990-2019. Seattle, United States of America: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), 2022. https://doi.org/10.6069/97EM-P280
Guidelines: Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018 (Draft issued for public consultation in May 2018) https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073630.
Guillamón, A.R. (2017). Análisis bibliográfico de las baterías de evaluación de la condición física. Re-vista Peruana de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte, 4(4), 533-543.
Guillamón, A. R. (2019). Análisis de la relación entre salud, ejercicio y condición físicos en escolares y adolescentes. Revista Ciencias de la Actividad Física, 20(1),8. DOI: http://doi.org/10.29035/rcaf.20.1.1
Hambleton, I. R., Caixeta, R., Jeyaseelan, S. M., Luciani, S., & Hennis, A. J. (2023). The rising burden of non-communicable diseases in the Americas and the impact of population aging: a secondary analysis of available data. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, 21. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100483. PMID: 37065858; PMCID: PMC10090658.
Hollerbach, B. S., Cosgrove, S. J., DeBlauw, J. A., Jitnarin, N., Poston, W. S., & Heinrich, K. M. (2021). Muscular strength, power, and endurance adaptations after two different university fitness classes. Sports, 9(8), 107. doi: 10.3390/sports9080107
Informe sobre la situación mundial del alcohol y la salud 2018. Resumen. Washington, D.C.: Organiza-ción Panamericana de la Salud; 2019. (OPS/NMH/19-012). Licencia: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) diet high in sodium. Global Burden of Disease; 2019 (https://www.healthdata.org/results/gbd_summaries/2019/diet-high-in-sodium-level-3-risk).
Jacobs DR Jr et al. Childhood Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Adult Cardiovascular Events. N Engl J Med. 2022 Apr 4. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2109191. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2109191
Kwapong, Y. A., Boakye, E., Khan, S. S., Honigberg, M. C., Martin, S., Oyeka, C. P., ... & Sharma, G. (2023). Association of depression and poor mental health with cardiovascular disease and suboptimal cardiovascular health among young adults in the United States. Journal of the American Heart Association, 12(3), e028332. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.122.028332
Lo Moro, G., Corezzi, M., Bert, F., Buda, A., Gualano, M. R., & Siliquini, R. (2023). Mental health and ad-herence to Mediterranean diet among university students: an Italian cross-sectional study. Journal of american college HealtH, 71(8), 2451-2461. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1970567
López Ramírez, E. y López Ramírez, E. L. (2017). Intervenciones basadas en evidencia: experiencias y resultados. Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa, 19(2),1-4. Recuperado de http://redie.uabc.mx/redie/article/view/1614
Mahajan, R., & Rawat, D. (2020). Determination of physical fitness index and its relation with body mass index among physiotherapy students. Physiotherapy-The Journal of Indian Association of Physiotherapists, 14(2), 84-88. https://doi.org/10.4103/PJIAP.PJIAP_25_19
Maldonado-Avendaño, N., Castro-Osorio, R., & Cardona-Gómez, P. (2021). Propiedades psicométricas del Inventario de Depresión de Beck-II (BDI-II) en población universitaria colombiana. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcp.2021.08.007
Maza-Ávila, F. J., Caneda-Bermejo, M. C., & Vivas-Castillo, A. C. (2022). Hábitos alimenticios y sus efec-tos en la salud de los estudiantes universitarios. Una revisión sistemática de la literatura. Psico-gente 25(47), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.17081/psico.25.
Méndez, C. M. E., Espejel, I. R., Salazar, C. M., Rodríguez, S. L. S. M., & Chico, B. F. (2023). Relación entre obesidad central y hábitos de salud reportados en universitarios. Retos, 48, 54-59. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos. v48.95914
Moscatelli, F., De Maria, A., Marinaccio, L. A., Monda, V., Messina, A., Monacis, D., ... & Polito, R. (2023). Assessment of lifestyle, eating habits and the effect of nutritional education among undergrad-uate students in southern Italy. Nutrients, 15(13), 2894.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/13/2894.
Obeid, C. A., Gubbels, J. S., Jaalouk, D., Kremers, S. P., & Oenema, A. (2022). Adherence to the Mediter-ranean diet among adults in Mediterranean countries: A systematic literature review. European journal of nutrition, 61(7), 3327-3344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02885-0
Oja, P., Tuxworth, B. (1995). Eurofit For Adults, assesment of health-related fitness. Tampere: Commit-tee for the Development of sport and UKK Institute for Health PromotionResearchFinland. https://archive.org/details/eurofitforadults0000unse
Okunogbe, A., Nugent, R., Spencer, G., Powis, J., Ralston, J., & Wilding, J. (2022). Economic impacts of overweight and obesity: current and future estimates for 161 countries. BMJ global health, 7(9), e009773.https://doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009773.
Pagès, J. 2004. “Analyse Factorielle de Donnees Mixtes.” Revue Statistique Appliquee 4: 93–111.
Patiño, Y. P., Argumedo, E. O., Cobos, R. C. R., Beltrán, Y. H., Fontalvo, P. V., Ospino, M. G., & Moreno, G. C. (2022). Estilo de vida en adultos jóvenes universitarios de Barranquilla, Colombia: Diferen-cias según sexo y estatus socioeconómico. Retos, 43, 979-987.https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8072019.
Plan de acción mundial sobre actividad física 2018-2030. Más personas activas para un mundo sano. Washington, D.C.: Organización Panamericana de la Salud; 2019. Licencia: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. ISBN: 978-92-4-151418-7.
Qin, G., Qin, Y., & Liu, B. (2022). Association between BMI and health-related physical fitness: A cross-sectional study in Chinese high school students. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 1047501. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1047501
Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson, & Agredo, Ricardo A. (2012). Fiabilidad y validez del instrumento "Fantásti-co" para medir el estilo de vida en adultos colombianos. Revista de Salud Pública, 14(2), 226-237 http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S012400642012000200004&lng=es&tlng=es.
Ramírez-Vélez, R., Triana-Reina, H. R., Carrillo, H. A., Ramos-Sepúlveda, J. A., Rubio, F., Poches-Franco, L., ... & Correa-Bautista, J. E. (2015). A cross-sectional study of Colombian University students’ self-perceived lifestyle. SpringerPlus, 4, 1-8. DOI:10.1186/s40064-015-1043-2
Ramírez-Vélez, R., Huertas-Zamora, L., Correa-Bautista, J. E., & Cárdenas-Calderón, E. G. (2018). Con-fiabilidad y validez del cuestionario de trastornos de sueño BEARS en niños y adolescentes es-colares de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia: Estudio FUPRECOL (Reliability and Validity of the BEARS Sleep Disorder Questionnaire in Children and Adolescent Students fr. Retos, 34, 89–93. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v0i34.58585
Rangel-Caballero, Luis Gabriel, Murillo-López, Alba Liliana, & Gamboa-Delgado, Edna Magaly. (2018). Actividad Física En El Tiempo Libre Y Consumo De Frutas Y Verduras En Estudiantes Universi-tarios. Hacia la Promoción de la Salud, 23(2), 90-103. https://doi.org/10.17151/hpsal.2018.23.2.7.
Sáez, Iker, Josu Solabarrieta, and Isabel Rubio. (2020). "Physical Self-Concept, Gender, and Physical Condition of Bizkaia University Students" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 14: 5152. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145152.
Salazar-Rodriguez, G., Vazquez, F., Vasquez-Osorio, S., & Torres-Mejias, J. (2024). Physical Condition of Schoolchildren in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago: Comparative Analysis Between Types of Educational Establishments. Retos, 62, 155–160. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v62.109 18
Sánchez-Ojeda, M. A., & Luna-Bertos, E. D. (2015). Hábitos de vida saludable en la población universi-taria. Nutrición hospitalaria, 31(5), 1910-1919. https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2015.31.5.8608
Serrá-Majem, L., Ribas, L., Ngo, J., Ortega, R. M., García, A. Pérez Rodrigo, C. y Aranceta, J. (2004). Food, youth and the Mediterranean diet in Spain. Development of KIDMED, Mediterranean diet quali-ty index in children and adolescents. Public Health Nutrition, 7(7), 931- 935. Doi: 10.1079/PHN2004556.
Sociedad Argentina de Cardiología, Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría. (2019) Consenso de prevención cardiovascular en la infancia y la adolescencia. Version resumida. Recommendations. Arch Ar-gent Pediatr ;117 Supl 6: S205-S242. ISSN 0034-7000 www.sac.org.ar Consenso.
Stamatakis, E., Gale, J., Bauman, A., Ekelund, U., Hamer, M., & Ding, D. (2019). Sitting time, physical activity, and risk of mortality in adults. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 73(16), 2062-2072. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.02.031.
Suarez Villa, Mariela Elisa, Navarro Agamez, Maloris De Jesús, Caraballo Robles, Daniela Rocío, López Mozo, Laura Vanessa, & Recalde Baena, Andrea Carolina. (2020). Estilos de vida relacionados con factores de riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes Ciencias de la Salud. Ene, 14(3), e14307. Epub 05 de abril de 2021. Recuperado en 01 de mayo de 2024, de http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1988348X2020000300007&lng=es&tlng=es.
Tasnim S, Tang C, Musini VM, Wright JM. Effect of alcohol on blood pressure. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD012787. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012787.pub2. Accessed 24 April 2025.
Tsao, C. W., Aday, A. W., Almarzooq, Z. I., Anderson, C. A., Arora, P., Avery, C. L., ... & American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. (2023). Heart disease and stroke statistics—2023 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 147(8), e93-e621.
Vélez-Álvarez, C., Hoyos-Londoño, M., Pico-Merchán, M.E., Jaramilllo-Angel, C.P. y Escobar-Potes, M.P. (2019). Comportamientos de riesgo en estudiantes universitarios: la ruta para enfocar acciones educativas desde los currículos. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Educativos, 15 (1), 130-153. https://doi.org/10.17151/rlee.2019.15.1.8
Vélez, R. R., Zamora, L. H., Bautista, J. E. C., & Calderón, E. G. C. (2018). Confiabilidad y validez del cues-tionario de trastornos de sueño BEARS en niños y adolescentes escolares de Bogotá, DC, Co-lombia: Estudio FUPRECOL. Retos, 34, 89-93. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:149149735
Verde, L., Barrea, L., Bowman‐Busato, J., Yumuk, V. D., Colao, A., & Muscogiuri, G. (2024). Obesogenic environments as major determinants of a disease: It is time to re‐shape our cit-ies. Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews, 40(1), e3748. https://doi.org/10.1002/dmrr.3748
Vivas-Díaz, J. A., Ramírez-Vélez, R., Correa-Bautista, J. E., & Izquierdo, M. (2016). Handgrip strength of Colombian university students. Nutrición hospitalaria, 33(2), 330-336. https://doi.org/10.20960/nh.113
World Medical Association. (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical Princi-ples for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. JAMA, 310(20), 2191-2194. https://10.1001/jama.2013.281053
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Hugo Alejandro Carrillo Arango, Miguel Alejandro Atencio-Osorio, Diana Isabel Martínez-García, Kevin Steven Ossa Tabares, Laura Lucía Dominguez, Jhoan Sebastián Zapata, Ana María Soto Gil, Lina María Leyva Cuero
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
