Risk factor profile and vascular stiffness in young people living in the North Caucasian Federal District according to remote survey and angiology screening

Objective. To assess the profile of the main risk factors (RF) in young people from the North Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) regions using a remote survey system and to compare the indicators of vascular stiffness (VS) in individuals of ethnic groups living in the regions of the district. Material and methods. Medical university students in the NCFD regions were examined using an online survey to identify the main RF (4.603 subjects) and angiology screening (277 subjects). Instrumental screening included assessment of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) using the VaSera VS-1500N device (Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd., Japan). Unlike the pulse wave velocity, this marker does not depend on the blood pressure (BP) acting on the vascular wall at the time of recording the pulse wave. All respondents were divided into groups depending on the region of residence and ethnicity. In the latter case, the representatives of the various ethnicities were divided into three groups: Group 1 — Slavic ethnicities, Group 2 — Caucasus ethnicities, and Group 3 — other ethnicities. Data were processed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 21 and Statistica 10.0 (StatSoft Inc., USA). Results. The prevalence of overweight and obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and nutritional features in young people from different universities of the NCFD were evaluated. The integrative parameter of arterial rigidity, CAVI, on both sides in subjects of the Slavic ethnic group was slightly higher compared to the peers of the Caucasian ethnic group. However, this difference was not significant for young people of other ethnicities, this parameter had intermediate values. Conclusion. The data obtained indicate the need to improve preventive measures for young people, considering their place of residence and ethnicity. This approach facilitates implementing more individualized preventive programs for students in the early stage of the pathogenetic cardiovascular continuum, having a greater chance of correcting the initial preclinical manifestations of arterio- and atherosclerosis.