Cardiovascular risk profles clusters  among children and adolescents  with disabilities

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a precursor for disabilities and death worldwide. Being overweight or obese in combination with physical inactivity and smoking habits may increase the risk for CVD and other health problems such as lower limb osteoarthritis, diabetes, stroke, and various cancer types among children and adolescents. The literature emphasizes the need to follow such groups and evaluate the risk of individuals developing CVD diseases. Therefore, the current study explores the variety of cardiovascular risks in children and adolescents’ profles clusters with and without disabilities.

Methods Data from 42 countries including Israel, was collected with the support of the world health organization (WHO, Europe) through a questionnaire from 11–19 years old school-aged.

Results The study fnding shows that children and adolescents with disabilities demonstrated a higher prevalence of overweight than those who completed the HBSC youth behavior survey. Moreover, the prevalence of tobacco smoking and alcohol use was statisticaly signifcantly higher among the disabled group than the non-disabled group. In addition, socioeconomic status of responders who presented a very high CVD risk was found as signifcantly lower than those from the frst and second low risk groups.

Conclusion This led to the conclusion that children and adolescents with disability were at a higher risk of developing CVDs than their non-disabled peers. In addition, intervention programs tailored to the needs of adolescents with disability should consider lifestyle habit change and promoting healthy living thus improving their quality of life as well as reducing their risk of being exposed to severe CVD diseases.