Objective:

To quantify the prevalence of certain cardiovascular risk factors in 10 to 17 years old students from Medellín.

Methodology:

Cross-sectional study, developed in 2015, in a convenience sample of 917 adolescents (between 10 and 17 years old) from four public schools and a private school. The study included anthropometric assessments (weight, height, waist and hip circumference), assessment of cardiorespiratory capacity and systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements.

Results:

The proportion of overweight and obesity was 17.6 % and 4.3 %; abdominal obesity was 9.2 %; maximum oxygen uptake was higher in men than in women (44.98 vs. 40.14 ml/kg/min); global high blood pressure was 17.9 % and increased with height. When increasing age by one year, the possibility of becoming obese decreases by 54 %. Having abdominal obesity increases the possibility of becoming obese by 22 times. When increasing hip circumference by 1 cm, the risk of obesity increases by 25 %. When increasing age by one year, as well as increasing the systolic blood pressure by 1 mmHg, the possibility of being in a poor physical condition increases by 12 %, and 2 %, respectively. When increasing the BMI by 1 kg / m2 and having abdominal obesity, the risk of being in poor physical condition increases by 13 % and 61 %, respectively.

Conclusions:

A high proportion of cardiovascular risk factors was found, especially overweight, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and poor physical condition. These may increase mortality due to cardiovascular diseases in the long term.

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