Nutritional Status, Blood Pressure Levels, and The Associated Risks for Hypertension in Islamic High School Teachers in Medan

Abstract

Several studies on body size and hypertension have been conducted among various people and professions. Teachers serve as role models for their student's health and well-being, particularly regarding nutritional status and physical outlook. However, many teachers face health issues that they do not consider a threat to their career or personal life. The purpose of this research was to establish the relationship between nutritional status and the prevalence of hypertension among Islamic high school instructors in Medan. This cross-sectional research involved 74 teachers from three Islamic high schools in Medan between July-august 2022. Data collected using interviews, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements. The results showed that there were 40 teachers (54.1%) overweight based on BMI category, while there were 46 teachers (62.2%) had hypertension. A significant association between overweight nutritional status and the prevalence of hypertension was established using logistic regression analysis (p = 0.001, 95% CI: 2.145 -19.719). Teachers with overweight are 6.5 times more likely to have hypertension than those with normal nutritional status, which was controlled by the confounding variable, employee status (p = 0.016; OR 14.3, 95% CI: 1,629 -125,931). Therefore, the nutritional status of teachers in Islamic High School have to be concern to prevent hypertension, so they can have better perfomance in school and in a personal life.