Trends of physiological and lifestyle risk factors of cardiovascular disease in Korea adolescents: Using Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2007–2015)

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the prevalence and trends of physiological and lifestyle factors of cardiovascular disease risk in Korean adolescents. Methods: Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2015) whose subjects were 5,067 adolescents aged 12-18 were analyzed. Differences were identified according to gender, age, and risk group through Chi-square tests. Logistic regression analysis was performed to understand the trend of risk factors during the 4th (2007-2009), 5th (2010-2012), and 6th phases (2013-2015). Results: Results show that among the physiological factors, hyperglycemia increased from 5.0% to 9.1% (p<.001), while low HDL-cholesterol significantly decreased (p<.001). Among the lifestyle factors, physical inactivity was the highest at 67.8%, in girls and 42.6% for boys. In particular, for boys, the risk group with both physiological risk and unhealthy lifestyle factors showed a significant transition from 11.5% to 16.0% (p=.009). Conclusion: To reduce the transition of adolescent cardiovascular disease risk factors into adulthood, it is necessary to select and continuously monitor the risk groups, and develop and implement school-based interventions to improve hyperglycemia and physical activity in adolescents in the future.