Background/aims To review the literature on college students’ healthcare-seeking behaviours to uncover the current evidence and promote better healthcare-seeking behaviours and essentially better health outcomes in young adults. Methods The researchers conducted an extensive literature review using CINAHL, Cochrane, PubMed, EBSCOhost and Google Scholar in the years 2018 and 2019. The search was limited to the past 18 years (2000–2018) and to studies reported in the English language focused on the general healthcare-seeking behaviour of college students. The search was also extended to young adults (aged 18–39 years). Results A total of 56 articles were identified for abstract review and only 28 articles met the inclusion criteria for the final review. The following themes emerged to organise our findings: healthcare-seeking behaviour among college students, health information resource utilisation and its influence on healthcare-seeking behaviours and barriers to accessing care among college students. Conclusions This review summarises the current body of knowledge related to healthcare-seeking behaviour among college students, health information resource utilisation and its influence on healthcare-seeking behaviour and barriers to accessing care among this population. Important measures further to address the health needs and interventions for addressing these needs among the college student population are discussed.

Background: Hypertension is typically recognized in middle-aged and older adults but often overlooked in younger populations. Objective: We evaluated a mobile intervention for reducing blood pressure (BP) in college-age students for 28 days. Methods: Students with elevated BP or undiagnosed hypertension were assigned to an intervention or control group. All subjects completed baseline questionnaires and attended an educational session. For 28 days, intervention subjects sent their BP and motivation levels to the research team and completed assigned BP-reducing tasks. After 28 days, all subjects completed an exit interview. Results: We found a statistically significant decrease in BP in the intervention group only ( P = .001) but no statistical difference in sodium intake for either group. Mean hypertension knowledge increased in both groups but was only significant for the control group ( P = .001). Conclusions: The results provide preliminary data on BP reduction with greater impact on the intervention group.

Purpose: This study was designed to identify underlying cardiovascular risk factors among college students including lifestyle characteristics, health behaviors and knowledge, and perception of the risk factors. Method: College students ( N = 293), aged 19–36 years, enrolled at either a Midwestern or a Southwestern University in the United States, responded to three questionnaires: sociodemographic, knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors, and perception of cardiovascular risk factors. Anthropometric measures collected included blood pressure (BP), glucose, lipid panel, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). Results: There were significant regional and gender differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among Southwestern and Midwestern college students. Students from the Southwest had a higher risk of developing CVD in 30 years compared to those in the Midwest; they also had a higher perceived risk. Males were more at risk of developing CVD than females but had a lower perceived risk than females. Dietary habits were similar between the two populations, and we found no significant differences in BMI. The two regions varied in BP levels, but the Midwestern students had significantly higher prevalence of elevated BP and Stage 2 hypertension. Conclusion: Our data suggest that college students are a high-risk population and tend to underestimate and misperceive their risk for developing CVD.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a serious public health issue caused by the cessation of cardiac electrical and mechanical activity. Despite advances in pedestrian lifesaving technologies like defibrillators, the SCA mortality rate remains high, and survivors are at risk of suffering ischemic injury to various organs. Understanding the contributing factors for SCA is essential for improving morbidity and mortality. One factor capable of influencing SCA incidence and survival is the time of day at which SCA occurs.Objectives: This review focused on the effect of time of day on SCA incidence, survival rate, and survival to discharge over the past 30 years and the role of age, sex, and SCA location in modulating the timing of SCA.Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews criteria guided this review. Four databases (PubMed, Cochrane Libraries, Scopus, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) were queried for research reports or articles addressing time of day and cardiac arrest, which were subsequently screened by the authors for inclusion in this analysis.Results: A total of 48 articles were included in the final analysis. This analysis showed a bimodal SCA distribution with a primary peak in the morning and a secondary peak in the afternoon; these peaks were dependent on age (older persons), sex (more frequent in males), and the location of occurrence (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest vs. in-hospital cardiac rest). Survival following SCA was lowest between midnight and 06:00 a.m.Discussion: The circadian rhythm likely plays an important role in the time-of-day-dependent pattern that is evident in both the incidence of and survival following SCA. There is a renewed call for nursing research to examine or address circadian rhythm as an element in studies involving older adults and activities affecting cardiovascular or respiratory parameters.