Prevalence of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in German adolescents

The distribution and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors among German adolescents is only poorly understood.

To describe the prevalence of major modifiable cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and the clustering of risk factors in German adolescents aged 11-17 years.

Cross-sectional study.

The German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents was conducted between 2003 and 2006. The prevalence of major CVD risk factors (smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes) and their clustering among 6813 11-17 year old adolescents was calculated according to age and sex. Associations with sociodemographic variables were investigated in multivariate logistic regression analysis.

The prevalence of all risk factors apart from diabetes and obesity increased significantly across age groups. At the age of 17 years smoking and physical inactivity were the most frequent risk factors. In addition to age, most consistent and strongest associations were observed between socioeconomic status and CVD risk factors. Although the age of 11 years the majority of boys and girls were free of CVD risk factors, at age 17 years more than three-quarters were exposed to at least one risk factor.

Results indicate that the prevalence of CVD risk factors is increasing rapidly across age groups from 11 to 17 years. In late adolescence the majority of boys and girls are exposed to one or more CVD risk factor. Preventive actions will have to be expanded substantially to reduce the future burden of CVD.