Introduction:

Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death due to non-communicable diseases. The detection of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Objectives:

To describe the frequency of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in health career students at the Polytechnic and Artistic University of Paraguay, San Lorenzo branch.

Methodology:

Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional design. The data was obtained by a telematic survey during the year 2022.

Result:

One hundred thirty-four students participated, with a predominance of women: 104 (78%) with an average age of 25 ± 7 years, most of them were from the medical career 44 (33%). The cardiovascular risk factors found were: sedentary lifestyle in 83 (62%) participants, unhealthy eating habits in 128 (95%), smoking in 7 (5%), arterial hypertension in 7 (5%), type 2 diabetes mellitus in 3 (2%), and dyslipidemia in 4 (3%). There was loss of data for BMI in 62 cases, so the frequency of overweight or obesity has not been analyzed. The sample studied presented at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor in 131 participants (98%). The sum of cardiovascular risk factors per subject shows a high percentage of 42.5% and 39.5% for 2 and 3 associated risk factors, respectively.

Conclusion:

In the studied sample, despite being young and in training in health matters, there is a high frequency of at least one modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. The most frequent cardiovascular risk factors were unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. It is striking that, despite being a young population, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia are already present, assuming a high and early burden of cardiovascular risk.

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