[The frequency of cardiovascular disease-associated risk factors in a university student population]. / Frecuencia de factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades cardiovasculares en población universitaria joven.

OBJECTIVE: Estimating the frequency of cardiovascular disease-associated risk factors in a university student population in Cartagena, Bolívar. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to establish the frequency of being overweight, obesity, dyslipidaemia, physical inactivity and smoking habits in 301 students from the University of Cartagena. Simple random sampling was carried out without replacement. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form (IPAQ-sf) was applied in addition to lab tests for evaluating total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL cholesterol. The main analysis was carried out for establishing the possible risk factors associated with heart diseases; a 0.05 statistical significance level was used. RESULTS: 34.2 % of the students in the survey had alterations regarding their body mass index. 64.1 % of the sample population were physically inactive and 23.9 % stated that they smoked. Triglycerides had the highest lipid prevalence (24.6 %). Statistically significant differences were found regarding gender, recorded statistically significant differences when were related to physical activity levels, smoking and HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular risk factors in this student population revealed similar patterns to those found in the Caribbean region which have shown epidemiological and demographic transition, as reported by national and local health services. These findings thus strongly suggest the need for implementing opportune health promotion and prevention models for reducing the burden of non-communicable disease and chronic disease-associated death.

Frecuencia de factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades cardiovasculares en población universitaria joven / The frequency of cardiovascular disease-associated risk factors in a university student population

Objetivo Estimar la frecuencia de factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades cardiovasculares en población universitaria joven en Cartagena, Bolívar. Métodos Estudio de corte transversal para establecer la magnitud de sobrepeso, obesidad, dislipidemia, inactividad física y consumo de tabaco en 301 estudiantes de una Universidad de la ciudad de Cartagena. El muestreo fue aleatorio simple sin reemplazo. El Cuestionario Internacional de Actividad Física (IPAQ), formato corto; se realizó la determinación de Colesterol total, Triglicéridos, Colesterol HDL y Colesterol LDL. Para determinar las asociaciones entre los factores de riesgo cardiovascular y el género se usó las pruebas X2 y T. Resultados El 34,2 por ciento de los estudiantes encuestados presentaron alteración del índice de Masa corporal. El 64,1 por ciento registraron inactividad física y 23,9 por ciento de los estudiantes encuestados fuma. El lípido que presentó mayor prevalencia de niveles alterados fue el triglicérido (24,6 por ciento). Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significantes en los análisis por género, niveles de actividad física, consumo de tabaco y niveles del colesterol HDL y de triglicéridos (p<0,05). Conclusiones Los factores de riesgo para enfermedad cardiovasculares analizados en la población joven de este estudio muestran patrones similares a los de la región en donde existe evidencia de transición epidemiológica y demográfica. Estos hallazgos sugieren la necesidad de implementar modelos de promoción y prevención oportunos que permitan reducir la carga de enfermedad y muerte asociadas con enfermedades crónica.

Objective Estimating the frequency of cardiovascular disease-associated risk factors in a university student population in Cartagena, Bolívar. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted to establish the frequency of being overweight, obesity, dyslipidaemia, physical inactivity and smoking habits in 301 students from the University of Cartagena. Simple random sampling was carried out without replacement. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form (IPAQ-sf) was applied in addition to lab tests for evaluating total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL cholesterol. The main analysis was carried out for establishing the possible risk factors associated with heart diseases; a 0.05 statistical significance level was used. Results 34.2 percent of the students in the survey had alterations regarding their body mass index. 64.1 percent of the sample population were physically inactive and 23.9 percent stated that they smoked. Triglycerides had the highest lipid prevalence (24.6 percent). Statistically significant differences were found regarding gender, recorded statistically significant differences when were related to physical activity levels, smoking and HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p<0.05). Conclusions Cardiovascular risk factors in this student population revealed similar patterns to those found in the Caribbean region which have shown epidemiological and demographic transition, as reported by national and local health services. These findings thus strongly suggest the need for implementing opportune health promotion and prevention models for reducing the burden of non-communicable disease and chronic disease-associated death.

Safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of new formulations of the Plasmodium falciparum malaria peptide vaccine SPf66 combined with the immunological adjuvant QS-21.

SPf66 is a synthetic malaria peptide vaccine, which has been widely tested in combination with aluminium hydroxide (alum) as the adjuvant. Since this formulation is weakly immunogenic, we sought to improve its immunogenicity by using the saponin adjuvant QS-21. SPf66/QS-21 vaccines were evaluated for safety, tolerability and immunogenicity in healthy adults. The vaccines were found to be safe in 87/89 (97.8%) volunteers studied. However, two individuals developed severe vaccine allergy following the third dose of 1/3 SPf66/QS-21 formulations tested. Vaccine formulations containing QS-21 induced a 45- to over 200-fold increase in anti-SPf66 IgG titres over the alum formulation after the second and third doses, respectively. Anti-SPf66 antibody from some subjects reacted against asexual blood stage parasites, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence and immunoblotting. Antibody responses generated by the QS-21 formulations were of longer duration compared to those evoked by the alum formulation. While SPf66/alum has been found to induce only CD4+ T cell response, the QS-21 formulations exhibited the potential to also elicit SPf66-specific CD8+ responses. These observations demonstrate that the use of QS-21 can substantially enhance the immunogenicity of peptide vaccines, such as SPf66.