Prevalence of obesity and its association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in adolescent girls from a college in central Taiwan.
Although obesity is associated with important hemodynamic disturbances, little data exists on population-wide cardiovascular risk factors in obese adolescent girls in Taiwan. This study measured the prevalence of overweight/obesity and related cardiovascular disease risk factors in adolescent females. This was a school-based survey of a representative sample of 291 females aged 15 and 18 years in a public college in Central Taiwan. The main measures were height, body weight, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), uric acid, cholesterol, triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Obese (body mass index [BMI] > or = 25.3) and overweight (22.7 < or = BMI < or = 25.2) individuals were combined and labeled as overweight (BMI > or = 22.7) to make communication of results clearer. Data gleaned from freshmens health examinations were analyzed. The prevalence of obesity (BMI > or = 25.3) was 9.28% and of overweight (BMI > or = 22.7) was 21.31%. Being overweight was associated with higher SBP, DBP, uric acid and TG, and lower levels of HDL-C, but was not associated with cholesterol. The 15-year-old group showed higher mean levels of uric acid, total cholesterol, TG and HDL-C than the 18-year-old group (p < 0.05). All told, 3.1%, 15.12% and 2.1% of the girls showed abnormally elevated levels of uric acid, cholesterol and TG, respectively. In addition, 5.84% had abnormally lower HDL-C levels, indicating that interventions should focus on reducing obesity and encouraging proper dietary habits and sufficient exercise, especially in subjects with lower HDL-C levels and higher levels of cholesterol, TG and uric acid.
Lu
John Jenn-Yenn
JJ
National Taichung Nursing College, Taichung, and College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. johnlu@ntcnc.edu.tw
Jiang
Donald Dah-Shyong
DD
Chou
Shieu-Ming
SM
Hor
Chang-Bor
CB
Lay
Jong-Ding
JD
Wang
Hsiang-Ling
HL
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL