Mental Health, Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors, And The College Student

College is a time when many lifelong health habits start to form (Kemper & Welsh, 2010). It has been estimated that between 12-50% of college students have one or more of the common mental health disorders (Hunt & Eisenburg, 2010). Mental health disorders in early adulthood have been associated with long-term physical health issues, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, etc. (Scott et al., 2016). The earlier these physical health issues can be identified, the earlier treatment (such as lifestyle modification) could be started. PURPOSE: To analyze the relationship between mental health status and CVD risk factors in first year college students. METHODS: 45 first year college students (27 females) were recruited from a small, liberal arts college. CVD risk factors (blood pressure (BP) and body composition) were measured, physical activity (PA) was self-reported and measured by accelerometry, and sleep was evaluated by use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Mental health was evaluated by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Survey. The cohort was divided into three categories based on their individual mental health scores: those who scored high in all three (depression, anxiety, and stress) (n = 7), those who scored low in all three (n = 14), and those who had some combination of high and low (mixed) (n = 24). RESULTS: Participants in the mixed group had significantly higher systolic BP (110.8 + 0.1 mmHg) than those in the high (102.7 + 5.7 mmHg) or low groups (104.9 + 7.9 mmHg) (p = 0.033). Additionally, the mixed group had significantly lower (p = 0.009) time spent in sedentary time (46.6% of the day) and significantly higher (p = 0.020) time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (15.4% of the day) when compared to the low group (54.1%; 11.7%, respectively). No significant differences in days/week of PA, nightly sleep, diastolic BP, fat-free mass, fat mass, skeletal mass, or visceral adipose tissue were seen between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The mixed group had the lowest sedentary time and the highest time in MVPA, yet still had the highest systolic BP. This could be due to trying to control mental health issues with non-pharmacological methods. Additional research, including medication use, should investigate this relationship in a larger cohort so additional relationships could be explored.