Point Prevalence of High Blood Pressure among Students of University of Port Harcourt

Introduction: Hypertension is a long term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. Over the last decade, it has been demonstrated that the prevalence of mild hypertension in youth aged from 18-30 years is more common than expected and is progressively rising.

Methods: This study documented the point prevalence of high blood pressure among the student population of the University of Port Harcourt by determining the body mass index, level of physical activities and socioeconomic status. A cross sectional study was conducted among the University of Port Harcourt students within a period of two weeks. A total of 300 students were sampled and anthropometric data such as height, weight and age were collected. Participants were aged 19-30 years. 48.7% were observed to be female while 51.3% were of the male gender.

Result: The point prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension was observed to be high among the students 11.3% and 31.7% respectively. It was observed that 36.3% of the male students had normal blood pressure while 76.6% of the female students had normal blood pressure, this accounted to be 22.3±0.14years for the mean age normotensive, 22.6±0.37years for pre-hypertensive and 23.2±0.14years for hypertensive. The body mass index (BMI) of the normotensive, pre-hypertensive and hypertensive were observed to be 18.3±0.19kg/m2, 24.21±0.19 kg/m2 and 32.5±0.32 kg/m2 respectively. There was significant difference between the body mass indexes (P<0.05).

Conclusion: From the survey carried out, it was observed that the physical activity of the students was low. Though not statistically evaluated for significance, a high percentage prevalence of hypertension in males was observed when compared with females. Considering the correlation between the anthropometric measurements and the hypertensive status of the participants, it was discovered that the age did not affect the condition significantly (P>0.05) but a significant correlation between hypertension and age as well as BMI of students exist.

Recommendation: Regular screening is recommended to improve awareness and help mitigate the complications of this condition. Finally, routine screening should be undertaken by health care managements and the university's health service.