Associations between obesity, adverse behavioral patterns and cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent inhabitants of a Greek island.

BACKGROUND: Excess weight, unhealthy lifestyle habits and their sequelae have become a well-recognized public health problem in most countries. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship of adolescent overweight/obesity with behavioral habits and their association with blood pressure (BP) and lipid profile.

METHODS: Anthropometric parameters, lifestyle, BP and lipid profile of 736 adolescents were evaluated cross-sectionally. The classifications of normal weight, overweight and obese were based on BMI z-scores.

RESULTS: About 42.1% of adolescents were overweight/obese, 11.3% were smokers, 33.2% consumed alcohol and 34% reported low activity. Males began smoking earlier, consumed alcohol more often, exercised less and spent more screen time than females. Alcohol consumption was more prevalent among smokers and was associated with higher BP and dyslipidemia. Smokers exercised less intensely and had lower high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) than non-smokers. Obesity was a risk factor for higher BP and dyslipidemia. Longer screen time was associated with higher triglycerides, while intense physical activity with lower systolic BP.

CONCLUSIONS: Obesity is related to an adverse lipid and BP profile during adolescence. Clustering of hazardous habits was observed, which is known to aggravate the cardiovascular risk.