Results of a Heart Disease Risk-Factor Screening Among Traditional College Students

Abstract

The author collected data on serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and self-reported health behavior in 226 college students aged 18 to 26 years. Twenty-nine percent had undesirable total cholesterol levels, 10% had high cholesterol, 10% had high systolic blood pressure, and 11% had high diastolic blood pressure. Half or more of the participants consumed a diet high in saturated fats, engaged in binge drinking, had a parental risk for high cholesterol or blood pressure, or reported they experienced elevated stress levels. Men had higher risk-factor levels than women. Findings from a regression analysis revealed that smoking, binge drinking, lack of cardiovascular exercise, and eating a high saturated-fat diet were predictive of undesirable cholesterol levels. Study limitations included self-selection of participants and single measurements of blood pressure and cholesterol. Trained students served as screeners in the program for providing an effective, low-cost screening intervention.

Factors influencing dietary fat intake among black emerging adults

“…Compared to older populations, younger populations, such as emerging adults, frequently consume foods high in fat (Anderson, Winett, Wojcik, & Williams, 2010;Huang et al, 1994;Spencer, 2002) with a higher percentage of kcal from total fat than the recommended guidelines (Hampl & Betts, 1995;Kronsberg et al, 2003;Lichtenstein et al, 1998). The frequency of eating fast food, which tends to be high in fat content, has been positively associated with fat intake among samples that included emerging adults (French, Story, Neumark-Sztainer, Fulkerson, & Hannan, 2001;Jenkins & Horner, 2005;Satia, Galanko, & Siega-Riz, 2004).…”

“…Cartwright and colleagues (2003) found that teenage females had lower odds of consuming high-fat foods (56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64), p = .00) compared to males. Spencer (2002) found that females were less likely to eat diets high in saturated fats compared to males (χ² = 25.01, df = 3, p = .00). Harcrow (2010) found that males had significantly higher fat intake scores (M = 30.44, SD = 10.19, F = 10.71; p = .001) compared to females (M = 28.22, SD = 8.95).…”

“…Such dietary habits may increase one's risk for CVD, particularly among Black emerging adults ( Brown et al, 2010;Fernandes, Arts, Dimond, Hirshberg, & Lofgren, 2013;Hampl & Betts, 1995;Kronsberg et al, 2003). Chronic diseases, such as CVD often begins during the emerging adult years (Bibbins-Domingo & Peña, 2010;Brown et al, 2010;Spencer, 2002); however, adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyles, which includes lower fat intake, may decrease emerging adults' risks for CVD (Liu et al, 2012). Therefore, it is important to examine factors that influence dietary fat intake among emerging adults.…”

“…Emerging adults frequently consume foods high in fat (Huang, Song, Schemmel, & Hoerr, 1994;Slining & Popkin, 2013;Spencer, 2002). According to the [2007][2008] National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the average fat intake for males was 33.6% of total caloric intake and 33.5% for females (Wright & Wang, 2010).…”

“…This dissertation study addressed some of the gaps in the literature by focusing on this age group, which may help Black emerging adults develop and maintain healthy eating behaviors into adulthood and their elderly years. Potentially, healthy eating behaviors, which include reducing dietary fat intake, may reduce the risk of chronic lifestyle diseases, especially since CVD often begins during the emerging adult years (Brown et al, 2010;Spencer, 2002).…”