**1. Introduction**

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of illnesses that mostly affect the heart and blood vessels. They are the major causes of death and disability worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income nations [1, 2]. CVDs claimed the lives of an estimated 17.9 million individuals in 2019, accounting for nearly 32% of all worldwide fatalities that year [1]. Even more concerning was the fact that three-quarters of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income nations, such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which also supplied 80% of the global illness burden [1, 3]. Not only is the present mortality, prevalence, and disability associated with CVDs great, but there is also an increasing tendency, making future estimates much bleaker than the current scenario. Roth et al*.* [2] estimated an almost doubling of the global prevalence of CVDs from 1990 to 2019 in their synthesis of data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study. Similarly, the number of fatalities (from 12.1 million in 1990 to

18.6 million in 2019) and years lived with disability (from 17.7 million in 1990 to 34.4 million in 2019) nearly doubled during the same time [2]. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) affect 31% of all people globally. The underlying pathology is a lifetime process that begins in childhood and develops throughout adolescence depending on risk factors. Identifying and treating risk factors in teenagers allow for the management of CVDs [4].

The existence of risk factors considerably influences the development of CVD [5]. In emerging nations, the prevalence of CVD has risen among younger individuals aged 25–44 years, who make up the working population, compared to the older population of persons aged 65 years and older in industrialized countries [6]. This shift has been connected to an increase in harmful lifestyle characteristics such as poor food, inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption [7]. CVD risk factors are frequently formed during infancy and adolescence and become established in adulthood [8]. As a result, early detection of its risk throughout infancy and adolescence may help avoid or postpone the beginning of CVD [9]. Adolescents aged 10–19 years [10] experience changes in their social surroundings and social lives as they transition to adulthood. This is visible as they fail to develop regular eating and sleeping routines, resulting in a lack of exercise, bad dietary habits, weight gain, and insufficient sleep [11]. CVD and related risk factors are predicted by socioeconomic level (SES). However, the degree of this relationship changes depending on the countries' economic progress [12, 13]. In high-income nations, regardless of the SES measures utilized, evidence suggests to a negative connection between SES and CVD risk factors in the adult population [14]. This tendency contrasts in low-middle-income nations and among people with lower socioeconomic status in developed countries, where lower socioeconomic status is a possible predictor of worse health outcomes [15].

Inadequate general community understanding of CVD and its risk factors is a barrier to successful CVD prevention and treatment [16]. As a result, understanding CVD knowledge gaps and perceptions among teenagers is critical to developing a CVD preventive program for this subpopulation [17]. It has been demonstrated that increased understanding of an illness and propensity to it improves adherence to lifestyle adjustments [18]. Knowledge of CVD and its risk factors is critical for both primary and secondary CVD prevention [19]. At least one in every three teenagers and young adults has insufficient health literacy and, as a result, engages in unhealthy behaviors [19]. Good CVD knowledge and comprehension will lead to better health-seeking behavior, which will affect CVD preventive and control judgments and decisions [20, 21]. Cardiovascular disease imposes a massive economic burden because of its impact on the working population and the high expense of its treatment [22]. CVD prevention is thus the ideal option for a growing country like Nigeria. The goal of this study is to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for CVD among Nigerian adolescents and youths.

## **2. Types of cardiovascular diseases**

There are few surveys on the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in among Nigerian adolescents. In urban Nigeria, there has been a rising prevalence of hypertension [23]. A 150% increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease has also been reported [24]. Hypertension affects up to 46% of Nigerian adults and a rising proportion of Nigerian adolescents [25, 26]. Furthermore, Adedapo et al*.* [24] reported in a research study that cardiovascular diseases are fully account for more than a 30% of medical admissions, which is in tandem with the sharp rise in the


**Table 1.**

*Types of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), symptoms, and risk factors.*

*Prevalence and Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Diseases among the Nigerian Population: A New… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108180*

burden of cardiovascular diseases, especially in developing countries [27]. This necessitates a realistic approach to the swift deterrence of an impending epidemic. The middle-aged group who account for nearly half of all cardiovascular disease patients form a sizable portion of the workforce driving the Nigerian economy. Given that biological changes occur at a faster rate throughout childhood and adolescence than at any other time in life, it is acceptable to consider this age group to be an important category for examining CVD risk factors [28]. Adedapo [29] observed hypertension to be the leading cardiovascular disease among medical outpatients in a study in southwestern Nigeria. Ischemic heart disease and cardiomyopathies were entirely unusual, accounting for less than 1% of all cardiovascular diseases in the study.

Also, coronary heart disease (CHD), despite being acknowledged to have ramped up in recent time, is still exceptionally rare and has not made a major contribution to cardiovascular mortality rates [30]. Female patients presenting with cardiovascular disease are becoming increasingly prevalent; however, their survival odds are greater than that of males [29]. The most predominant CVDs over the previous half-century were rheumatic heart disease and cardiomyopathies; however, hypertension, rheumatic valvular disease, and cardiomyopathy overtook and became the leading causes of CVDs in the recent decade [30–34]. Hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, hypertensive heart diseases, arrhythmias, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, valvular heart diseases, and congenital heart disorders are among the cardiovascular diseases of high significance (**Table 1**) [36].
