Are lifestyle cardiovascular disease risk factors associated with pre-hypertension in 15–18 years rural Nigerian youth? : a cross sectional study

CITATION: Odunaiya, N.A., Louw, Q.A. & Grimmer, K.A. Are lifestyle cardiovascular disease risk factors associated with pre-hypertension in 15–18 years rural Nigerian youth?: A cross sectional study. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, 15(1): 144, doi: 10.1186/s12872-015-0134-x.Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.The original publication is available at http://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.comBackground: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a public health concern worldwide. Hypertensive heart disease is predominant in Nigeria. To effectively reduce CVD in Nigeria, the prevalence of, and factors associated with, pre-hypertension in Nigerian youth first need to be established. Methods: A locally-validated CVD risk factor survey was completed by 15–18 year olds in a rural setting in south- west Nigeria. Body Mass Index (BMI), waist-hip ratio and systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured. Putative risk factors were tested in gender-specific hypothesized causal pathways for overweight/obesity, and for pre-hypertension. Results: Of 1079 participants, prevalence of systolic pre-hypertension was 33.2 %, diastolic pre-hypertension prevalence approximated 5 %, and hypertension occurred in less than 10 % sample. There were no gender differences in prevalence of pre- hypertension, and significant predictors of systolic pre-hypertension (high BMI and older age) were identified. Considering high BMI, older age was a risk for both genders, whilst fried food preference was female-only risk, and low breakfast cereal intake was a male-only risk. Conclusion: Rural Nigerian adolescents are at-risk of future CVD because of lifestyle factors, and high prevalence of systolic pre-hypertension. Relevant interventions can now be proposed to reduce BMI and thus ameliorate future rural adult Nigerian CVD.http://bmccardiovascdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12872-015-0134-xPublisher's versio