Pattern of Blood Pressure Distribution among University Students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Background Elevated blood pressure has been identified as a silent killer contributing to mortality and morbidity worldwide, hence it is essential to identify the high risk individuals at an early age to prevent the progress of the disease and its co-morbid conditions. Objective The objective of the present cross-sectional study was to assess the pattern of blood pressure distribution among students of medical and allied health professions at Gulf Medical University (GMU) Ajman, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods The study was conducted from November 2009 to February 2010. GMU has academic programmes such as Bachelor of Medicine, Physical therapy, Pharm D and Dental Medicine with a multiethnic student population. A pretested structured instrument used for data collection and blood pressure was measured using mercury sphygmomanometer. Descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviation were used to summarize the quantitative variables. The association of age, gender and nationality with systolic and diastolic blood pressure was determined by Pearson's correlation coefficient and a p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The systolic and diastolic blood pressures were evenly distributed across all students irrespective of their age. A significantly higher systolic blood pressure in males was observed when compared to females, but the difference was not significant in diastolic blood pressure. In the present study among medical and allied health science students, the distribution of blood pressure was not associated with age. The mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were seen to be higher among Arabs when compared to Non-Arabs though not statistically significant. Family history of metabolic diseases did not show any association with the mean blood pressure. Conclusion There was a strong association for developing hypertension among male when compared to female gender. Key Words: University students; Age; Gender; Nationality; Systolic blood pressure; Diastolic blood pressureDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nje.v1i3.5572 Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 2011;1(3) 86-89