Cardiovascular risk factors of hypertension, smoking and obesity: Emerging concerns among Pathan and Persian young adults?

Hypertension was considered as a disease of the elderly but due to unhealthy dietary and lifestyle changes its incidence has increased in younger population. Smoking and obesity are emerging concerns the world is facing globally in younger age groups. This study is therefore aimed to identify these cardiovascular risk factors among Pathan and Persian young adults. It was a cross-sectional study carried out at multiple undergraduate, postgraduate educational institutes and hospitals using non-probability convenient sampling among young adults aged between 15 to 40 years for a period of six months from Apr 1st, 2017 to Sep 30th, 2017. Mean±SD was calculated for continuous variables and categorical variables were expressed as frequencies. Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used for statistical analysis. A total of 708 subjects were included. Mean±SD age was 26.12±3.7 years. Out of 708, 300(42.37%) were smokers with 209 (29.52%) active and 91 (12.85%) passive smokers. Among smokers, 216 (30.5%) were males while 84 (11.87%) were females. A total of 432 (61.02%) subjects were not doing any exercise, and 636 (89.83%) were consuming junk food. A total of 165 (23.3%) subjects were overweight, and 15 (2.1%) were obese. Stage-1 hypertension was present in 72 (10.2%), while 16 (2.25%) subjects had stage-2 hypertension. There is an increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors which includes hypertension, smoking, and obesity among Pathan and Persian young adults.