Medizinische Universität Graz Austria/Österreich - Forschungsportal - Medical University of Graz
Gewählte Publikation:
Klosz, F.
Cardiovascular risk factors and blood pressure monitoring in South African adolescents.
Humanmedizin; [ Diplomarbeit ] Graz Medical University; 2020. pp. 69
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- Autor*innen der Med Uni Graz:
- Betreuer*innen:
- Goswami Nandu
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- Abstract:
- Background: Overweight is major factor contributing to the rise of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This has also been shown to be prevalent in children and adolescents. The metabolic syndrome (MetS) describes a clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors and individuals classified with MetS have a critically increased risk of suffering cardiovascular events or develop diabetes mellitus (DM). Therefore, identification of individuals at risk, developing prevention programs and initiating therapies is crucial. Aims: We examined the prevalence of MetS and cardiometabolic risk factors in 13-16-year old adolescents in Mthatha, South Africa. Methods: 244 adolescents were included in this study. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured. Blood samples were drawn and fasting glucose (FG), triglycerides (TGs) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured. After exclusion of 8 participants, statistical analysis was conducted for 236 participants. Results: Overweight and obesity (O/O) was highly prevalent in the study population with 30.5% being classified as O/O. 37.7% of were classified as pre-hypertensive (pre-HT) or hypertensive (HT). In the O/O group, pre-HT/HT was highly prevalent with 61.1%, thus being significantly higher as compared to the lean group. Nonetheless, also healthy weight participants showed a prevalence of 27.3%. Risk factor clustering was present, with nearly half (45%) scoring at least one out of four risk factors (RFs). Participants with O/O showed more RFs than lean participants. In a subgroup of 94 participants MetS showed a prevalence of 7.4%, while in O/O it was 26.1%. Conclusion: Cardiometabolic risk factors have a high prevalence in South African adolescents, thus putting them at a high risk for CVDs in later life. More research in this field is indicated, and prevention strategies to tackle the growing burden of disease should be established.