engleski

Obesity and elevated blood pressure among students of the Zagreb Universitys’ School of Dentistry

Background There has been a significant increase in prevalence of obesity among younger individuals over the last few decades. Significant health problems not only in adult age but also in young age are associated with obesity in children and adolescence. The aim of this study was to find out whether the prevalence of obesity is associated with elevated blood pressure among the last 10 generations of the university students including female/male comparison. Methods All students mentioned above measured each others&#8217; weight, height and blood pressure during regular practical lecture on risk factor determination. BMI was calculated and categorized according to WHO categories: low weight: <18 kg/m2, normal: 18 to 25 kg/m2, overweight: 25 to 30 kg/m2, obese: 30 to 40 kg/m2 and morbidly obese: more than 40 kg/m2. Results Altogether, 921 out of 1014 students (90.8%) were measured. There was 623 female (67.6) and 298 male (32.4%) students. Overweight (BMI 25+ kg/m2), were altogether 123 (13.4%) students, 97 (32.6%) males and 26 (4.2%) females. Out of these, obese (BMI 30+ kg/m2) were 8 (2.7%) male students and one of them was morbidly obese (BMI 35+ kg/m2). Only two (0.2%) female students were obese and none were morbidly obese. Ten out of 298 male students (3.4%) had elevated blood pressure, compared with two out of 623 female students (0.3%). The overall prevalence was 1.3% and was increasing from 0.8% for those with normal weight (BMI 18.5&#8211; 24.9 kg/m2) through 2.3% (overweight, BMI 25&#8211; 29.9 kg/m2) and 25.0% (obese, BMI 30&#8211; 34.9 kg/m2) till 100.0% (morbidly obese, BMI 35+ kg/m2). Conclusions Low prevalence of obesity and overweight was found among female students of the Zagreb Universitys&#8217; School of Dentistry. On the contrary, quite moderate prevalence of obesity and alarming prevalence of overweight was found among male students. Elevated blood pressure was present in male students, and was practically absent among female students. This can be probably explained by difference in prevalence of obesity and overweight, meaning that health behaviour of educated women is in Croatia still more favourable than that of men

elevated blood pressure; body mass index; obesity; university students

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