Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and assess the relationship between diet, anthropometry, stress level, physical activity and occurrence of hypertension among young adult females. The participants were 350 young adult females of age 20-30 years. In this cross sectional study, data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 (Trial). Results showed that out of 350 participants, 10.29% were pre-hypertensive, 9.43% were classified under grade-I and about 2% were classified under grade-II hypertension. The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight was 9.43% and 18.57% respectively. Body Mass Index (BMI) showed a significant (95% CI; ?=0.05) though weak positive correlation, with both Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP).High fat containing foods were having little impact on obesity and hypertension. Physical activity level of subjects was inversely associated with BMI and Waist Circumference (WC). A moderate association was found between stress level and high Waist- Hip Ratio (WHR). Correlation analysis suggests that the intake of high fat+sugar foods lead to increase in the waist circumference and waist hip ratio, thus, may be the contributory factor for obesity. Salt and salt containing foods didn’t show any strong contribution towards high blood pressure.