Main causes of noncommunicable diseases in Guinea: a study in medical students of the University of Conakry
Résumé
The aim of this study was to evaluate the main risk factors of noncommunicable diseases including BMI, unbalanced diet, physical inactivity, tobacco and alcohol use in young Guinean adults population. The research was carried out in 2015 and concerned 1047 students currently enrolled between 1st and 6th year of study at the medical faculty of the University of Conakry. The high response rate (92.7%) allowed analyzing a total of 970 usable surveys (624 men and 346 women, average age: 22.5 years ± 2.7 SD). The anonymous questionnaire was self-reported and the height and weight measurements were made during the lab courses in the presence of the investigators. With a sport rate less than 3 times per week or walked distances below 5 km per day, 63.6% of the surveyed students seemed leading a sedentary lifestyle. The majority of them (70.5%) had a healthy weight (BMI situated between 18.5 and 25 kg/m 2). Nevertheless, 10.6% were overweight and 3.2% were suffering from obesity. Overweight and obesity were much higher among women: 16.8% and 7.2% (7.2% and 1.0% for men). Thus, 36.5% were not satisfied by their corpulence (31.7% in men and 45.3% in women). The main risk factor of noncommunicable diseases in this population is the lack of physical activity. Other risk factors, such as unbalanced diet, overweight, tobacco and alcohol use, are also present, but their involvement appears to be less important or nonexistent.