Prevalence of Modifiable Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease among School-going Children and Adolescents in Eldoret, Kenya

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence in Kenya is rising. Overweight, pre-hypertension and physical inactivity in younger ages is contributory. These risk factors are inadequately documented among Kenyan children and adolescents, hampering CVD prevention. This cross-sectional study randomly sampled 384 school children and adolescents. After obtaining assent and consent, global physical activity (PA) questionnaire was used to assess PA. Body mass index (BMI), Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) and Waist-Height Ratio (WHtR) were determined. Blood pressure (BP) was also measured. Participants were 14.6±2.7 years, and 62.6% were female. Overall BMI was 19.8±3.9 kg/m2 with 8% having ≥25.0 kg/m2, 87% of whom were in secondary schools. Using SBP, 27.9% were at risk of CVD. For age ≥13 years old, males and females proportions were 42.5% and 20% respectively while that for <13 years old, it was 26.5% and 27% respectively. For DBP, 12.8% had elevated-to-hypertensive BP. For ages ≥ 13 years old, this was 13.2% and 8.3% for males and females respectively and for the <13 years old, the respective percentages were 11.8 and 25.4. Combining SBP and DBP, 8.1% of participants, mostly males, had elevated-to-hypertensive BP. Thirty-one percent of boys and 15.6% of girls were at CVD risk using respective WHR cutoffs of 0.90 and 0.85 (males, 0.93±0.02 ; females, 0.89±0.03). For WHtR, 39.6% of boys had values >0.463 cut-off (0.493±0.02), with 52.6% in secondary schools against 32.4% for girls having >0.469 cut-off (0.517±0.05), 69.7% being in secondary schools. Overall, 45% of participants were sports-inactive and 77.2% did minimal PA. Among school-going children and adolescents in Eldoret, Kenya, prevalence of CVD risk-factors was high especially among boys and in high schools. Large proportions had elevated BP, BMI, WHR and WHtR, and, further, were sedentary, posing high CVD risk. Lifestyle interventions to mitigate this public health concern among children and adolescent are urgently needed.