Abstract
Background and Objectives: The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) poses significant clinical and public health challenges across the world. This study aimed to study the metabolic risk factors and the association with blood pressure alteration. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted between 2017 and 2018 among 284 male university students in Eastern province, Saudi Arabia. The obesity and cardiovascular measurements were taken using standardized instruments, including blood pressure (BP), mean arterial pressure, body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), body fat percentage (BFP), and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Statistical Analysis: Blood pressure was classified according to the United States of America, Sixth Joint National committee (JNC-VI) guidelines. The mean and standard error were calculated for each hypertension group variable. Logistic regression was applied to predict associations. Results: The prevalence of hypertension in the present study was 61.6%., and that of overweight and obesity was 16.5% and 34.9%, respectively. The cut-off values of BMI and WC were 22.23 and 75.24, respectively. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that BMI, WC, WHR, and WHtR significantly predict hypertension and that WC has a greater discrimination capacity than other measures. The findings also emphasize the importance of cardiovascular risk screening for young adults to detect any alterations in blood pressure and thus identify the population that is vulnerable to CVDs at an early stage. The findings highlight the need for health and university policymakers to adopt measures to monitor and control hypertension and obesity at the university level.
Highlights
Obesity is a major risk factor for a group of diseases and death
The mean values for heart rate, pulse pressure, MAP, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC), body adiposity index (BAI), basal metabolic rate (BMR), body mass index (BMI), and body fat percentage (BFP) were comparatively higher among the prehypertension or hypertension groups than the normal individuals
There was an association of heart rate, pulse pressure, MAP, weight, hip circumference (HC), WC, BAI, BMR, BMI, and BFP with the occurrence of prehypertension or hypertension
Summary
Obesity is a major risk factor for a group of diseases and death. It is a well-established cardio-metabolic risk factor causing excess adiposity and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) [1]. A communitybased national epidemiological health survey conducted in Saudi Arabia examined 17,232 adults aged 30 to 70 years and reported 39.9% (females 31.8%, males 42.4%) as overweight and 35.5% (female 44%, 26.4% males) as obese [4]. This study aimed to study the metabolic risk factors and the association with blood pressure alteration. The obesity and cardiovascular measurements were taken using standardized instruments, including blood pressure (BP), mean arterial pressure, body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-toheight ratio (WHtR), body fat percentage (BFP), and basal metabolic rate (BMR). The findings emphasize the importance of cardiovascular risk screening for young adults to detect any alterations in blood pressure and identify the population that is vulnerable to CVDs at an early stage. The findings highlight the need for health and university policymakers to adopt measures to monitor and control hypertension and obesity at the university level
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