RESUMO
To study the prevalence of obesity and its relationship to cardiovascular disease [CVD] risk factors among young university students. A total of 403 medical students [273 males and 130 females] aged 20.8[ +/- 1.8] years, from Jordan University during 2007. Anthropometric measures and blood chemistry were obtained. Multivariate analysis was carried out between obesity indices: body mass index [BMI], waist circumference [WC], waist-to-hip ratio [WHpR], and waist-to-height ratio [WHtR] and CVD risk factors: blood pressure [BP], fasting blood sugar [FBS],and serum lipoproteins. Among the study population, 32.6% of males and 19.2% of females had BMI >/= 25kg/m[2]. Central obesity [WC >/= 102cm, WHpR >/= 0.95, WHtR >/= 0.5]among males wasfound in 4.4%, 4.4%, and 29.7% respectively. Among females, central obesity [WC >/= 88cm, WHpR >/= 0.85, and WHtR >/= 0.5] was observed in 3.8%, 3.8%, and 14.6% respectively. Students above the obesity indices cut-off points had significantly higher values of CVD risk factors. BMI and WC were the most strongly related indices to hypertension for males. On the other hand, WC was related to elevated serum triglycerides level in females. A substantial proportion of a sample of Jordan University students was overweight or obese. Obesity indices were good markers for the presence of hypertension and dyslipidemia in both males and females.Simple anthropometric indices can be used to identify these CVD riskfactors.Larger epidemiological studies are required to confirm these findings. Furthermore, health promotion programs are urgently needed to reduce the CVD risk factors in young university students, and in the general population with similar risk profiles