Chronic disease risk factors among healthy adolescents attending public schools in the state of Morelos, Mexico.

BACKGROUND

Little research (and fewer interventions) has been done on longitudinal exposure to risk factors for chronic diseases in young people in Latin America, including Mexico, although chronic diseases constitute the first cause of death in Mexico. Our objective was to document the prevalence of chronic disease risk factors among adolescents as a baseline measurement for a cohort study and to develop educational interventions.

METHODS

Questionnaires, blood samples, and anthropometric measurements were collected from 13,293 public school students of both sexes, ages 11-24 years in Morelos, Mexico. This constitutes the baseline measurement for a cohort study. Twenty focus groups and 10 in-depth interviews were done with girls aged 12-17 years. Two educational interventions promoting physical activity and sexual health were designed.

RESULTS

Prevalence of obesity was 21.2%. On average, participants spent 0.5 h/day on vigorous physical activity and 3.7 h/day watching television. Sexual initiation was reported by 14.5% (girls = 9.1%, boys = 21.5%); 52.3% of whom reported using condoms. Young women demonstrated correct condom use and perceived themselves at risk for HIV/AIDS but did not have condom negotiation skills. Prevalence of experimenting with tobacco was 15.1% (girls = 10.4%, boys = 21.1%); current smoking was 14.4% (girls = 10.6%) and boys = 19.2%), while 6.3% of participants reported monthly intoxication with alcohol, and 4.5% reported past and 2.1% reported current illegal drug use.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate substantial exposure to risk factors for chronic diseases and reproductive health problems in this population. The study will generate interventions and constitutes initiation of a longitudinal study able to explore causal associations between risk factors and chronic diseases in this population.