Introduction:

During the life cycle of individuals, interventions are essential to detect and reduce the risk and complications of chronic diseases.

Objective:

To determine the prevalence of vascular risk values of the main indicators of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in adolescents and elderlies in Havana.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample made up of apparently healthy adolescents (469; aged 12-16 years) and elderlies (395 aged 65-100 years) without a diagnosis of diseases associated with marked alteration of nutritional and metabolic status. Both populations were evaluated regarding serum glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol using conventional enzymatic methods. Reference risk ranges were used. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

In the evaluated adolescents, triglycerides (35.6%) and total cholesterol (23.9%) showed the highest frequencies of risk values. In females, both markers remained the highest in that aspect; while in males, glucose (25.5%) accounted second after triglycerides as the most altered indicators. In the elderlies, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (58.2%) and total cholesterol (48.6%) corresponded to the highest frequencies of risk values, a pattern that was repeated in each sex. The average values of the indicators were markedly higher in the elderlies than in adolescents, except for glucose and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Conclusions:

The results obtained show high prevalence of vascular risk values of several metabolic indicators evaluated in adolescents and elderlies, which suggests the need to monitor the analyzed indicators and implement interventions to modify such values, in view of reducing the associated risk, from stages early, such as the pre-adolescence stage.

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