Association between Hypertension and Smoking among HailUniversity students

Background and Methods: The majorities of young people have no healthy life style or dietary habits. In the current study, we investigated the associations between hypertension and smoking among Hail University students in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among university students. Randomly, 100 male young students between the ages of 18- 24 years were selected. Data were collected on a self-completed questionnaire in order to record smoking behavior and dietary habits. Body mass index (BMI) and the systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) were measured three times with10–15-min intervals in the sitting position and at the resting state. Results: The numbers of Participants were 100 students from male university campus aged 18–23years. 48% of participant was within normal weight, 28% overweight and 24% obese. The prevalence of current percentage of smokers in the student population is 32%. Smokers had significantly higher blood pressure and heart rate values than non-smokers. Both university student smokers and non-smokers with history of hypertension in the family had significantly higher values of blood pressure than those without history of hypertension in the family. Conclusion: A significant elevation of blood pressure and heart rate was observed among young smokers.