Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Factors Among Young Adults: A STEPwise-Approach-Based Study in Three University Setups in Morocco

Abstract

Background: Although chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, are more likely to emerge during adulthood, their development begins earlier during childhood and adolescence. In this respect, we explored cardiovascular disease risk factors among students in three elite schools in Morocco. Method: The data collecting process was carried out using the French version of the STEPwise approach developed by the WHO to monitor Non-Communicable Diseases risk factors, producing thus standardized data and allowing wide comparability across similar studies. The investigation was conducted through on-site and online configurations. We only relied on the first and second sequences of the STEPS questionnaire in order to collect behavioral and physical data, on which our analysis was based. The choice of the population of Moroccan high intellectual potential youth is interesting, as they represent future physicians and leading engineers of tomorrow. Results: A total number of 325 subjects were surveyed. The prevalence of auto-reported diabetes and hypertension was respectively 3.31% and 8.54%. Alarmingly, a large proportion of respondents had undiagnosed hypertension. Besides, the prevalence of obesity was found to reach 6.17%, with no significant difference between gender groups. Conclusion: Hypertension appears to be largely undiagnosed which urges taking actions towards raising awareness among youth about chronic diseases and their risk factors as well as highlighting their preventability to prevent their future development.

Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors among Young Adults (18–25 Years) in Mozambique

“…The sum of the number of participants in the income category is lower than 488 for women and 288 for men due to missing data. 2 The sum of the proportions within each category may not be 100% because of rounding. 3 The sampling weights were computed considering the number of participants evaluated in each stratum in relation to the number of participants expected per stratum according to the population projections for the same period.…”

“…1 Derived from models including sex, place of residence, education, and income. 2 Defined if participant reported the consumption of six or more standard drinks on a single drinking occasion in the past 30 days [19]. 3 Defined according to the WHO 2020 recommendations on physical activity and sedentary behavior [20].…”

“…1 Derived from models including sex, place of residence, education, and income. 2 Defined as BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m 2 [21]. 3 Defined as a waist circumference greater than 88 cm and 102 cm in women and men, respectively [21].…”

“…In 2020, approximately 19.1 million deaths were attributed to CVD globally, with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) being one of the regions with the highest mortality rates [1]. CVDs, like other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), are related to behavioral factors such as tobacco and alcohol use, physical inactivity, and other factors that interact in complex ways with these behavioral factors, such as obesity and hypertension [2,3]. According to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease data [4], dietary risks, high systolic blood pressure, elevated body mass index (BMI), low levels of physical activity, and tobacco and alcohol use are the leading 2 of 12 causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in developing countries.…”

“…CVDs were shown to have a life course evolution, with exposure to its main risk factors starting during young adulthood or even earlier [2,5,6], and there is a robust association between maintaining a healthy lifestyle during young adulthood and the presence of a low CVD risk profile in adult life [7][8][9][10]. Therefore, targeting young adults for primary prevention of CVD risk factors is essential to reduce the risk of CVD later in life [11,12].…”