Evaluation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Young Adults Tunisian Group

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases have become more common in young adults. Their emergence is due to the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in a Tunisian young adult group. Material and methods: This is an epidemiological study of 705 Tunisians volunteers, free from any cardiovascular pathology; who are recruited at the Military Hospital of Tunis. Besides the classical cardiovascular risk factors (obesity, dyslipidemia, smoking, alco-hol…), we evaluate the level of homocysteinemia and determined the C677T mutation of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene by PCR-RFLP method. Results and conclusions: The mean age of our population is 28.25 ± 9.08 with a male majority (83.8%). We have 43.8% obese subject or overweight, 54.3% smokers and 12.9% alcoholics. The lipid profile showed that 12.6% of the population had hypercholesterolemia and 39.5% had hypoHDLemia, 7.9% had a high lipoprotein(a) concentration. In our study population we found that 10.9% of subjects had an hs-CRP concentration greater than 3 mg/L. Genotyping of the MTHFR gene revealed that 34% of young adults had a mutated genome (CT). The results showed a significant correlation between different factors, such as cholesterolemia and obesity. The prevalence of these risk factors showed the severity of our young people's health status and imposes a change in the way of Tunisians life.