Association of hypertension with changes in the body mass index of university students

Abstract

Background There are few longitudinal studies on the associations of obesity with hypertension in young adults. Objectives To analyze longitudinally to what extent weight gain associates with hypertension in young adults. Methods The subjects of this study consisted of 6,178 university students (male 4,098; female 2,080). The associations of hypertension with body type change were longitudinally examined by using the records of health examinations while at university. The prevalence ratios (PRs) for hypertension in their senior year were calculated on groups that changed toward obese against those that changed toward underweight. The logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for hypertension in their senior year of each factor. The analyses were conducted on (i) all subjects, (ii) nonhypertensive subjects in their freshman year, and (iii) by schools, in order to take into account physical activities. Results The PRs of hypertension in subjects changed toward obese from their freshmen to seniors against ones toward underweight were 1.47 (95% CI; 1.00-2.15) for males and 3.50 (0.93-13.22) for females. In analyses limited to non-hypertensive subjects in their freshman year, results were similar to those of all subjects. The analyses by school also showed similar results to those including all subjects. In logistic regression analyses, although the factor most strongly associated with hypertension was body type in their senior year, the body type in their freshman still showed significant association with hypertension after the adjustment of senior year body type and hypertension in freshman year. The ORs for hypertension in obese subjects to normal weight ones in their senior year were 9.13 (95% CI; 5.77-14.45) for males and 22.59 (5.69-89.67) for females after adjusted by hypertension in freshman, body type in freshman and school. Conclusions These data suggest that the increase of BMI is linked to hypertension in university students.

Prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors in young adults attending a tertiary care institute of Nagpur: a cross sectional study

“…The prevalence of hypertension in this age group found in our study was similar to study by Dores et al 14 prevalence when compared to our study. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Similar studies conducted by Al Majed et al and Kanade et al found higher prevalence in this age group. 29,30 The National Health and Nutrition Survey for the year 2012-2013 reports that the prevalence of hypertension in young adults of United States to be 7.3%, this prevalence is also lower than our study.…”

“…Another study conducted by Uchiyama et al among university students also found a significant relationship between overweight or obese category and hypertension among both males and females (p<0.05). 26 Further, among senior year males being underweight was found to be protective with an odds ratio of 0.55 (0.34 to 0.99). In our study, we did not attain the significance level for underweight category.…”

Monitoreo domiciliario de presión arterial y factores de riesgo cardiovascular en jóvenes estudiantes de medicina de una universidad privada en Lima, Perú

“…La tercera parte de los participantes mostró sobrepeso u obesidad predominantemente en el grupo femenino, lo cual fue un hallazgo diferente a lo clásicamente reportado como en las series descritas por Palomo et al (23) y Uchiyama et al (25), en grupos comparables. Al respecto postularíamos el sedentarismo como un precursor determinante.…”

Prehypertension and associated factors among university students in the Philippines

“…Many studies have highlighted obesity as an important factor for prehypertension and hypertension (6,7,9,11,(15)(16)(17)(18). Based on the Asian BMI categories, our results show that 11.7% of all the students were obese; this also demonstrated significantly that the highest proportion of prehypertension was found in students with BMI ≥ 25, rather than in their normotensive counterparts.…”

“…Factors associated with prehypertension or hypertension among university students included sociodemographics [male gender (9,11,12,14), greater age (11) and hypertensive first-degree relatives (14)], BMI obesity (6,7,9,11,(15)(16)(17)(18), substance use [smoking (7,9) and heavy alcohol use (19)], and in young women taking oral contraceptives (14). In addition, among general adults, factors associated with prehypertension or hypertension included physical inactivity (20,21), excess sodium intake (20), inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) (20), psychosocial stress [posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (22), depression (23) and short sleep duration (24,25)], and poor sleep quality (25).…”