Cardiovascular risk factors among college students: Knowledge, perception, and risk assessment

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess college students' knowledge and perception of cardiovascular risk factors and to screen for their cardiovascular risks. Participants: The final sample that responded to recruitment consisted of 158 college students from a midwestern university. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was performed using convenience sampling. Results: College students were knowledgeable about cardiovascular risk factors but did not perceive themselves at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors was correlated with the lifetime risk estimates (ρ = .17, p = .048), and perception of cardiovascular risk was positively associated with 30-year CVD risk estimates (ρ = .16, p = .048). More than 50% of the participants had 1 or more cardiovascular risk factors. Conclusions: High knowledge level of cardiovascular risk factors was not sufficient to lower cardiovascular risks within this study population, but changing perception of cardiovascular risk factors may play a bigger role in reducing long-term cardiovascular risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Cardiovascular risk factors
• college students
• knowledge
• perception
• risk assessments

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Funding

A research award and scholarship stipend supported this research and made it possible. The authors are grateful for the Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing, Pi Gamma Chapter Research Award and the Nellie House Craven Scholarship for an Academic Nursing Career, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing.