RESUMO
The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate the cardiovascular risk factors in college students including their nutritional and social choices and how those choices related to their cardiovascular health. A descriptive, cross-sectional study of 148 college students, obtaining their blood pressure, body mass index, fasting lipid panel, fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, serum cotinine levels, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and dietary habits. A high prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors was found: 23.8% were current or past smokers with more male than female smokers (p = .009); 65.5% consumed alcoholic beverages; 13.5% had elevated blood pressure; 25.7% had hypertension stage I; 3.4% had hypertension stage II; 36.5% were overweight while 19.9% were obese; 14.2% had prediabetes and 2% had diabetes; and 40.5% had borderline high cholesterol levels while 3.4% had hyperlipidemia. Elevated blood pressure and hypertension were most prevalent between the ages of 18 and 23 years and among males (p = .001). The top three risk factor co-occurrences were overweight and drinking alcohol (33.78%), followed by family history of heart disease and drinks alcohol (27.70%), and overweight and history of heart disease (25.68%). Of the 148 participants, 108 of them had at least two cardiovascular risk factors. The results of this study indicate that college students participate in risky behaviors that predispose them to develop CVD in the future.
RESUMO
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.
