Blood Pressure, Hypertension and Obesity in Young Adults in a Tertiary Health Institution in Southwest Nigeria

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Background: Hypertension and obesity are significant causes of morbidity and are growing in Nigeria and the world at large. Indeed hypertension has been cited as one of the leading causes of death worldwide and obesity has been identified as a strong risk factor in the development of hypertension. The relationship between obesity and hypertension had been studied largely among older population. This study is aimed at determining the relationship between obesity and hypertension in young adults in University College Hospital (UCH).

Method: This is an analytical cross sectional study conducted in UCH. Participants aged 18 to 30 years were recruited using a non-probability sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaire after informed consent. Additionally weight, height, waist and hip circumference and blood pressure (BP) of participants were taken.

Result: A total of 60 males and 51 females participated in the study. Mean age of 22.8 ± 2.3 years and 23.1 ± 2.1 years for male and female respectively. The mean SBP and DBP was 120.2± 16.9, 79.5± 11.7 and 113.8 ± 7.6, 72.7 ± 5.7 for male and female respectively. While the mean WC was 75.3± 7.0 and 72.5± 8.2 for male and female respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 5.4% in the population. While the prevalence of obesity was 3.6%, 4.5% and 11.7% based on BMI, WHR and WC respectively.

Conclusion: From this study the prevalence of hypertension is 5.4% and there are more obese female than male using waist circumference as the index of obesity.