Background: Obesity, as an epidemic disease, is distributed among all age groups, including children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. The goal of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) concerning obesity among university students.Methods: In total, 1,317 questionnaires were filled out by 1,317 (466 male and 851 female) randomly selected students aged range from 16 to 24. All participants agreed to provide personal information in this study. A self-designed questionnaire was applied to collect demographic characteristics and assess the KAP of obesity. Gender, height, weight, grade, sleep and income were included in the population questionnaire.Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the respondent rate of KAP among students.Results: In the survey, 64.9% of respondents believed that obesity was a disease. Only a few people cared about their body shape. Most of the participants in the study had practices that were detrimental to their health, including irregular dieting (52.9%), surfing the internet, and playing games (58.5%) in their spare time.Conclusions: This study identified that lacking knowledge of obesity was common among college students. Most respondents had a positive attitude about preventing obesity by focusing on dieting and exercise. Thus, education related to obesity should be strengthening among university students to translate attitude into practice.

No abstract

Background: Dyslipidemia is common among the general population, and its prevention is urgently needed particularly for the health of students. The purpose of our study was to explore the relationship between serum iron level and blood lipids.Methods: A sample of 290 university students was collected in this cross-section study. The blood lipids and serum iron levels were determined. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between serum iron level and blood lipids.Results: The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 8.8% among male students and 5.4% among female students.The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was7.2% among the total students. The results showed that serum iron level was negatively correlated with triglyceride (TG), but was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL)-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL)-cholesterol, and total cholesterol (TC) in female students. Female students with serum iron less than 15 mmol/L had higher levels of serum TG than female students with serum iron 15 mmol/L or above (P<0.05).Conclusions: These findings suggest that lower serum iron levels may be a risk factor of high serum TG in female students. Supplementation of iron may be a strategy for prevention of high serum TG in female students.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE Psychological distress is an important mental health problem among university students. The goal of this study was to determine psychological distress and its associated risk factors among students in the Anhui province. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 1304 students. In this study, a self-administered questionnaire consisting of the general demography and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was completed. Psychological distress was assessed using the GHQ-12-item questionnaire. A dichotomous category split was imposed on the GHQ-12 for the purpose of analysis. A GHQ-12 score of 4 or higher indicated psychological distress. The data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 system. RESULTS A total of 1304 samples were analyzed in this study. The results indicated that the education level of the father and mother was associated with the students’ psychological distress (P<0.001). A significant association was found between high-intensity exercise and low-intensity exercise and psychological distress. However, no significant difference was identified between gender and psychological distress (P=0.173). CONCLUSION The education level of parents, high-intensity exercise, and low-intensity exercise were associated with psychological distress. Our results suggest that it is indispensable to raise awareness of psychological disorders and its associated risk factors among university students. Further studies are required to develop appropriate interventions for high-risk groups.

No abstract