Abstract
Background: In KSA the prevalence of non-communicable diseases and related lifestyle behaviors are pervasive. Adolescent population at the transition of childhood and adulthood start to pick lifestyle related risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of lifestyle related risk factors and its socio-demographic correlates among school going adolescent girls in KSA. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2018 on a sample of students selected from 6 public schools using a multistage stratified random sampling technique. to entire school peers, an cooperation was held and anthropometric parameters including blood pressure readings were chosen. Fasting glucose and total cholesterol levels on a capillary blood sample were measured using Accoutered for a subsample of students. Results: Of the 120 female students selected, 35% of adolescent females, the overall mean age was 15.3 +/- 2.7 years. After age adjustment, about 12% of the students were found overweight. In addition, 3.6% and 7% of the students were found to have systolic and diastolic hypertension, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between females. Among the selected female students, 1% of females had hypercholesterolemia (p=0.04). Hyperglycemia was found in 0.2% of females. Students in the 9th to 12th grades, 1% of females were current cigarette smokers. Conclusion: Appropriate strategies should be adopted involving school authorities; social media as well as parents to control those identified risk factors for reduction of the chance of CVD among today's adolescent school students.