Predictive factors of arterial blood pressure in young university students, Córdoba, Argentina

DEFAGÓ MD, BOCCO R, MORENO V, PEROVIC NR

Granada

Congreso; 20 Congreso de la IUNS (International Union of Nutritional Sciences); 2013

International Union of Nutritional Sciences

Background and objectives: The university stage could be the first moment to take decisions about health. An increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CV) has been detected in youth and adolescents, and this risk is different to adults. The purpose of this study was to examine risk and protective CV factors related to arterial blood pressure (BP) among university students in Córdoba, Argentina, 2012. Methods: An aleatory sample based on the clinical records from university students attendees to Health Direction (Student Department, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) was developed during 2012. Data about Body Mass Index (BMI), BP, alcohol and tobacco consumption, age, sex, school and college, family history of CV diseases, and physical activity were analyzed. BMI was classified according to OMS and BP by ESC. Chi2 test was employed to analyze differences between variables, and a multivariate logistic regression analyses was performed. Stata version 11.0 was used for all analyses. Results: about nutritional status of 401 students (38% male, 62% female), 65.66% were normal, 5.26% low weight, 22.31% overweight, 5.51% grade-1 obesity and 1.21% were grade-2 obese. About BP values, the population under study showed the distribution: 61.85% optima, 23.69% normal, 8.48% high-normal, 4.24% grade-1 hypertension, 0.25% grade-2 hypertension, and 1.25%, isolated systolic hypertension. A higher proportion of women had normal BMI in relationship to men (p