A CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH TO ASSESS THE ONSET OF HYPERTENSION & OBESITY FACTORS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN CORRELATION WITH ATTRIBUTING FACTORS

Objective: It is well-established fact that Obesity and hypertension are correlated. People get weight due to an imbalance of energy and it is disturbing several ethnic strata e.g. age and socioeconomic status. Hypertension is the very cause of obesity. Defensive methodologies for obesity may present a low cost approach to bring down the B.P. To resolve the rate of obesity on the repost of BMI and waist-to-hip ratio and its relationship with hypertension among medical students. Methodology: We designed a descriptive cross-sectional research in the department of physiology of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore (December 2016 to July 2017). Two hundred and thirteen students of first-year MBBS & BDS participated. We recorded the waist and hip circumference, height, weight, BMI and waist-to-hip ratio. Result: In (213) students, 54.5% (116) were female and 45.5% (97) were male. In observed 8 (6.9%) females and 2 males (2.1%) were below Weight. Fifty-five males (56.7%) and fifty-two females (44.8%) were of standard weight. The occurrence of being overweight in female and male was twenty-two (19.0%) and seventeen (17.5%). Occurrence in obese-I in male and female was twenty (20.6 %) and twenty-three (19.8%) and Obese-II was three (3.1%) and eleven (9.5%) respectively. BMI and WHR indicate, Obesity occurs more in female than male. Hypertension was found in (12) standard weight, (6) overweight’s, (14) obese-I and (7) in Obese-II students. There is a significant correlation between body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio and systolic BP and Diastolic BP. Conclusion: Many students are obese. Our research depicts the strong +ve correlation among body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio and systolic BP and Diastolic BP. Research shows that an increase in Hypertension due to the increase in body mass index. Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Body Mass Index (BMI), Obesity, Hypertension, Waist circumference and Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR)