Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases during medical academic training.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Previous studies disagree about the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) among medical students.

Objectives: Determine the CVRFs prevalence in medical students. Compare the FRCVs percentage from initial and advanced course stages. Evaluate whether the CVRFs percentage was similar to that from population in the same age group, as previously described in another studies.

Method: This is a cross-sectional observational study that evaluated the CVRFs prevalence in medical students using a semi-structured questionnaire, in addition to physical examination and laboratory tests. For statistical analysis, statistical package for the social science software (SPSS, version 22.0) was used.

Results: 115 students were evaluated: 74.8%, female; mean age, 22.4±3.1 years. In the general sample was found altered dosages of total cholesterol (27.0%), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL, 5.2%), triglycerides (12.2%), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL, 8.7%), fasting glucose (4.3%), overweight (17.4%), obesity (5.2%), inadequate physical activity (45.2%), family history of cardiovascular disease (44.3%), stress (68.7%), anxiety (83.5%), insomnia (28.7%), sleep deprivation (60.0%), alcohol use (91.3%) and low cardiovascular risk (100.0%). The average score from PSS-14 questionnaire showed greater stress in the basic (27.0±6.7) and clinical cycle (28.3±7.1) and less stress in the internship (22.3±6.4). There was a statistical difference between the clinical cycle and internship (P < 0.05). During internship, there was a lower association between stress and graduation (33.3%), especially when compared to the clinical cycle (75.4%) (P < 0.01; ra=2.9).

Conclusion: CVRFs exposure and the risk of negative cardiovascular outcomes are lower in medical students when compared to young adult population. Suggestive of medical training contributes to self-care, health promotion, stress reduction and disease prevention, reducing the cardiovascular diseases prevalence, especially in the internship.