Cargando…

Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?

The health risk of college students in the United States (US) is on the rise, with a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US, costing approximately $475.3 billion yearly. The goals of this “Know Your Number...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sarpong, Daniel F., Curry, India Y., Williams, Melinda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5369086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28257080
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030250
_version_ 1782518059329650688
author Sarpong, Daniel F.
Curry, India Y.
Williams, Melinda
author_facet Sarpong, Daniel F.
Curry, India Y.
Williams, Melinda
author_sort Sarpong, Daniel F.
collection PubMed
description The health risk of college students in the United States (US) is on the rise, with a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US, costing approximately $475.3 billion yearly. The goals of this “Know Your Numbers” study were to: (1) estimate the awareness of college students of their critical health numbers (CHN); and (2) compare a college of pharmacy entry class (IP1) with second semester non-commuter freshman college students (FCS) in knowing their numbers. A cross-sectional 15-item pre-test survey was conducted among a convenience sample of IP1 and FCS. All statistical tests were performed at α = 0.05. Awareness of their: cholesterol (7%), blood pressure (BP) (35%), glucose (8%), and body mass index (BMI) (42%) were low. The IP1, compared to FCS, were more knowledgeable of: (1) their BP (46% vs. 28%, p = 0.01); (2) BP normal range (74% vs. 63%, p = 0.02); and (3) BMI normal range (39% vs. 23%, p = 0.04). The IP1s maintained a healthier diet than the FCS (64% vs. 36%, p < 0.0001). Awareness of knowing CHN was very low. Knowledge of one’s CHN was significantly associated with knowledge of normal reference values for BP, glucose, and BMI.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5369086
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-53690862017-04-05 Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter? Sarpong, Daniel F. Curry, India Y. Williams, Melinda Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The health risk of college students in the United States (US) is on the rise, with a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US, costing approximately $475.3 billion yearly. The goals of this “Know Your Numbers” study were to: (1) estimate the awareness of college students of their critical health numbers (CHN); and (2) compare a college of pharmacy entry class (IP1) with second semester non-commuter freshman college students (FCS) in knowing their numbers. A cross-sectional 15-item pre-test survey was conducted among a convenience sample of IP1 and FCS. All statistical tests were performed at α = 0.05. Awareness of their: cholesterol (7%), blood pressure (BP) (35%), glucose (8%), and body mass index (BMI) (42%) were low. The IP1, compared to FCS, were more knowledgeable of: (1) their BP (46% vs. 28%, p = 0.01); (2) BP normal range (74% vs. 63%, p = 0.02); and (3) BMI normal range (39% vs. 23%, p = 0.04). The IP1s maintained a healthier diet than the FCS (64% vs. 36%, p < 0.0001). Awareness of knowing CHN was very low. Knowledge of one’s CHN was significantly associated with knowledge of normal reference values for BP, glucose, and BMI. MDPI 2017-03-02 2017-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5369086/ /pubmed/28257080 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030250 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sarpong, Daniel F.
Curry, India Y.
Williams, Melinda
Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title_full Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title_fullStr Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title_short Assessment of Knowledge of Critical Cardiovascular Risk Indicators among College Students: Does Stage of Education Matter?
title_sort assessment of knowledge of critical cardiovascular risk indicators among college students: does stage of education matter?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5369086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28257080
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030250
work_keys_str_mv AT sarpongdanielf assessmentofknowledgeofcriticalcardiovascularriskindicatorsamongcollegestudentsdoesstageofeducationmatter
AT curryindiay assessmentofknowledgeofcriticalcardiovascularriskindicatorsamongcollegestudentsdoesstageofeducationmatter
AT williamsmelinda assessmentofknowledgeofcriticalcardiovascularriskindicatorsamongcollegestudentsdoesstageofeducationmatter