European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Aims: The main aims were to assess the incidence of prehypertension amongst the medical students in our institution with its correlation with increasing Body Mass Index (BMI) & to see if there was any gender variation.
Materials & Methods: A total of 500 medical students consented to participate in this study, their BP reading were recorded after a demographic questionnaire to assess their socioeconomic status & BMI.
Results: 277 students [55.4%) were prehypertensive out of which 145(29%) students had a high SBP & 132(26.4%) had high DBF. Amongst the 227 students, 33.2% had both high SBP & DBF out of which 64.1% were boys & 35.9% were girls. In the entire study population, out of the 500 students, 25% of the boys & 40% of the girls were overweight.
Conclusions: In our centre we had more than 50% of the study group in the prehypertensive range with a higher incidence amongst boys & about 40% of the girls were overweight these figures are alarming & hence a follow-up study is required for further analysis.