Objectiveidentify the modifiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus in college
students and associate these factors with their sociodemographic variables.
Methodcross-sectional study, involving 702 college students from Fortaleza-CE,
Brazil. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, physical exercise data and blood
pressure and fasting plasma glucose levels were collected. Resultsthe most prevalent risk factor was sedentariness, followed by overweight,
central obesity, high fasting plasma glucose and arterial hypertension. A
statistically significant association was found between overweight and sex
(p=0.000), age (p=0.004) and marital status (p=0.012), as well as between
central obesity and age (p=0.018) and marital status (p=0.007) and between
high fasting plasma glucose and sex (p=0.033). Conclusiondistinct risk factors were present in the study population, particularly
sedentariness and overweight.