Healthcare academics present different risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

Background: University entry can lead to changes in students' lifestyles making them vulnerable to various health risk factors. Objective: To draw the epidemiological profile regarding lifestyle habits, such as diet, physical activity, lipid profile and stress, in health university students. Materials and Methods: Prospective, cross-sectional, prospective study conducted on students aged 18 to 30 years. The instruments used for the analysis were 24-hour recall, Bouchard recall, complete lipidogram and basal cortisol. Results: We observed high rates of overweight/obesity, increased total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL-c) levels and decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL-c) levels. Analysis of the level of physical activity revealed that 58.33% of college students are inactive and 16.66% have high basal cortisol. The body mass index was high, as was the lipid profile with increased TC, LDL-c and TG and decreased HDL-c. Conclusion: These results are worrisome because, despite having more access to information, the life habits of health university students are strongly associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases.