High prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases in university students of a nursing course

Monteiro, Luciana Zaranza; Varela, Andrea Ramirez; Spinola, Milenne da Silva; Carneiro, Maria de Lourdes Alves; Oliveira, Divina Marcia Soares de; Toledo, Juliana Oliveira de

doi:10.1590/1414-462X202230040429

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Sumário

ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Cad. saúde colet. 31 (1) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1414-462X202230040429 copy

High prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases in university students of a nursing course

Elevada prevalência de fatores de risco para doenças crônicas não transmissíveis em universitários de enfermagem

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Background

The inadequate lifestyle of university students can contribute to the occurrence of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCD).

Objective

To evaluate the prevalence of NCD risk and prevention factors and verify gender differences for healthy habits among nursing students.

Method

A cross-sectional study with 974 nursing students. A self-administered questionnaire on health-related life habits was used in the study.

Results

Of the 974 students, 78.7% were women, 62.6% were between 20-29 years of age, 65.1% consumed alcohol, 57.4% did not do physical activity, and 34.7% were overweight. The women (41.9%) drank more full-fat milk, while the men drank more soft drinks and routinely consumed more meat with fat. The students who did not engage in physical activity smoked more (p<0.01), consumed less fruit (p<0.01), less salad (p<0.01), and less vegetables (p<0.01), and consumed more soft drinks (p=0.03), and meat with fat (p=0.04). In the physically inactive students, a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus (p=0.03) and high cholesterol (p<0.01) was observed.

Conclusion

The results show a clear profile of NCD risk factors among university students, highlighting the need to implement educational programs to reduce these factors.

Keywords:
prevention; chronic diseases; lifestyle; health promotion

Variable	n	%
Sex
Female	767	78.7
Male	207	21.3
Age (years)
≤ 19	152	15.6
20 to 29	610	62.6
≥ 30	212	21.8
Socioeconomic level
A	41	4.2
B	269	27.6
C	552	56.7
D	112	11.5
Self-perception of health
excellent	109	11.2
very good	246	25.3
good	425	43.6
fair	174	17.9
poor	20	2.1
Smoking
yes	223	22.9
no	751	77.1
Use of alcohol
yes	634	65.1
no	340	34.9
Nutrition status
underweight	47	4.8
normal weight	537	55.1
overweight	338	34.7
obese	52	5.4
Physical Activity >150 min/week
yes	414	42.6
no	560	57.4
Total	974	100

	Total			Female			Male
Variables	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI	p-value^*
Protective factors
Consumption on five or more days per week
Fruit	505	51.8	48.7 - 54.9	399	52.0	48.4 - 55.5	106	51.2	44.4 - 58.0	0.84
Raw salad	418	42.9	39.8 - 46.0	335	43.6	40.1 - 47.1	83	40.1	33.4 - 46.7	0.36
Greens or vegetables	530	54.4	51.2 - 57.5	416	54.2	50.7 - 57.7	114	55.0	48.2 - 61.8	0.83
Beans	702	72.0	69.2 - 74.8	545	71.0	67.8 - 74.2	157	75.8	70.0 - 81.6	0.17
Risk factors
Soft drinks	381	39.1	36.0 - 42.1	293	38.2	34.7 - 41.6	88	42.5	35.7 - 49.2	0.26
Intake of full-fat milk	406	41.6	35.5 - 44.7	322	41.9	38.4 - 45.4	84	40.5	33.8 - 47.2	0.72
Intake of meat with fat	312	32.0	29.1 - 34.9	245	31.9	28.6 - 35.2	67	32.3	26.0 - 38.7	0.91
Physically inactive	560	57.4	54.3 - 60.5	449	58.5	55.0 - 62.0	111	53.6	46.8 - 60.4	0.20
Smoking	223	22.9	20.2 - 25.5	169	22.0	19.1 - 24.9	54	26.0	20.1 - 32.0	0.22
Use of alcohol	634	65.0	62.1 - 68.0	502	65.4	62.0 - 68.8	132	63.7	57.2 - 70.3	0.65
Overweight	338	34.7	31.7 - 37.6	277	36.1	32.7 - 39.5	61	29.4	23.2 - 35.6	0.18
Obesity	52	5.3	3.9 - 6.7	42	5.4	3.8 - 7.0	10	4.8	1.9 - 7.7	0.54
Self-reported diseases
Arterial hypertension	32	3.0	1.7 - 4.2	23	3.0	1.7 - 4.2	9	4.3	1.5 - 7.1	0.33
Diabetes mellitus	59	6.0	4.5 - 7.5	47	6.1	4.4 - 7.8	12	5.8	2.6 - 8.9	0.86
High cholesterol levels	141	14.4	12.2 - 16.6	107	13.9	11.5 - 16.4	34	16.4	11.3 - 21.4	0.37
Health life score
Low	285	29.2	26.4 - 32.1	224	29.2	25.9 - 32.4	61	29.4	23.2 - 25.6	0.94
Moderate/High	689	70.7	67.8 - 73.6	543	70.8	67.5 - 74.0	146	70.5	64.2 - 76.7	0.94

Variables	PA >150 min/weeks
	No (n=560)			Yes (n=414)
	n	%	95% CI	n	%	95% CI
Nutritional status							0.11
Underweight	35	6.2	4.2 - 8.2	12	2.9	1.2 - 4.5
Normal weight	305	54.4	50.3 - 58.5	232	56.0	51.2 -60.8
Overweight	189	33.7	29.8 - 37.6	149	35.9	31.3 - 40.6
Obese	31	5.5	3.6 - 7.4	21	5.0	2.9 - 7.1
Alcohol consumption
No	202	36.0	32.0 - 40.0	138	33.3	28.7 - 37.8
Yes	358	63.9	59.9 - 67.9	276	66.6	62.1 - 71.2	0.38
Smoking
No	414	73.9	70.2 - 77.5	337	81.4	77.6 - 85.1
Yes	146	26.0	22.4 - 29.7	77	18.6	14.8 - 22.3	<0.01
Consumption of fruit
No	315	56.2	52.1 - 60.3	154	37.2	32.5 - 41.8
Yes	245	43.7	39.6 - 47.8	260	62.8	58.1 - 67.4	<0.01
Consumption of salad
No	349	62.3	58.3 - 66.3	207	50	45.1 - 54.8
Yes	211	37.6	33.6 - 41.6	207	50	45.1 - 54.8	<0.01
Consumption of greens
No	299	53.3	49.2 - 57.5	145	35.0	30.4 - 39.6
Yes	261	46.6	42.4 - 50.7	269	64.9	60.3 - 69.5	<0.01
Consumption of beans
No	164	29.2	25.5 - 33.0	108	26.0	21.8 - 30.3
Yes	396	70.7	66.9 - 74.4	306	73.9	69.6 - 78.1	0.27
Consumption of soft drinks
No	325	58.0	53.9 - 62.1	268	64.7	60.1 - 69.3
Yes	235	41.9	37.8 - 46.0	146	35.2	30.6 - 39.8	0.03
Consumption of full fat milk
No	326	58.2	54.1 - 62.3	242	58.4	53.7 - 63.2
Yes	234	41.7	37.7 - 45.8	172	41.5	36.8 - 46.3	0.94
Consumption of meat with visible fat
No	366	65.3	61.4 - 69.3	296	71.5	67.1 - 75.8
Yes	194	34.6	30.7 - 38.5	118	28.5	24.1 - 32.8	0.04
Arterial hypertension
No	539	96.2	94.6 - 97.8	403	97.3	95.7 - 98.8
Yes	21	3.7	2.1- 5.3	11	2.6	1.1 - 4.2.	0.34
Diabetes mellitus
No	518	92.5	90.3 - 94.6	397	95.8	93.8 - 97.8
Yes	42	7.5	5.3 - 9.6	17	4.1	2.2 - 6.0	0.03
High cholesterol levels
No	462	82.5	79.3 - 85.6	371	89.6	86.6 - 92.5
Yes	98	17.5	14.3 - 20.6	43	10.3	7.4 - 13.3	<0.01

Effect	Crude odds ratio	95% CI		p-value	Adjusted odds ratio	95% CI		p-value
Sex (male vs female)	0.98	0.71	1.38	0.94	0.99	0.70	1.38	0.94
Age (20-29 vs ≤ 19)	0.69	0.46	1.04	0.07	0.68	0.45	1.03	0.07
Age (>30 vs ≤ 19)	0.81	0.50	1.30	0.37	0.79	0.49	1.28	0.33
Socioeconomic level (A vs D)	0.88	0.41	1.87	0.73	0.85	0.40	1.82	0.67
Socioeconomic level (B vs D)	0.98	0.61	1.58	0.95	0.95	0.59	1.54	0.85
Socioeconomic level (C vs D)	1.20	0.77	1.87	0.40	1.18	0.75	1.83	0.46

Instituto de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Avenida Horácio Macedo, S/N, CEP: 21941-598, Tel.: (55 21) 3938 9494 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: cadernos@iesc.ufrj.br

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[1] Correspondence: Luciana Zaranza Monteiro. E-mail: lucianazaranza@hotmail.com