Cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent secondary school boys in Ahad Rufeida, southwestern Saudi Arabia.
A cross-sectional stratified sample of 1249 adolescent secondary school boys was studied. More than 25% of boys did not practice any physical exercise. More than half of the parents (54.5%) were consanguineous. High prevalence of parental history of hypertension, diabetes and high blood lipids was found. Smoking amounted to 11.8%. The prevalence of obesity was 23.3%. The study showed that 6.8% had a high systolic blood pressure and 13.0% (162) had high diastolic blood pressure. There is a need for a national programme to prevent and control cardiovascular risk factors among adolescents.
Department of Internal Medicine (Cardiology), College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah S
AS
Shatoor
Ahmed A
AA
Mahfouz
Mohamed Y
MY
Khan
Asim A
AA
Daffalla
Osama
O
Mostafa
Rafik K
RK
Hammad
D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003241:Consanguinity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012574:Schools; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult