[Cardiovascular risk factors in young people]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) involves several disorders related to the formation and development of atherosclerotic processes. Several risk factors are involved in CVD aetiology; some of them (i.e. age, hypertension, obesity, dislipidemia and diabetes) have been clearly associated, whereas others have a variable level of association. An increase in cardiovascular risk factors has been recently reported in the young population; studies of cardiovascular risk factors in this population have shown that its cardiovascular risk profile could be different from that presented by older populations. This review presents a summary of reported cardiovascular risk factors in the young population and their causes which have been released and indexed in different databases. Most factors discussed are life-habit risk factors and represent direct targets for clinical intervention. We propose that primary CVD prevention should include a more detailed knowledge of the nature of the risk factors concerning the young population and could have a positive impact on CVD prevalence during the next few years.