Blood pressure and nutritional status among medical students at a Paraguayan university: A cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21763256Keywords:
medical students, blood pressure, arterial hypertension, body mass index, obesityAbstract
Introduction: Early identification of elevated blood pressure and excess weight in young adults can guide preventive measures during university training. Objective: To describe the distribution of blood pressure and body mass index, as well as their concurrent patterns, among second-year medical students at Universidad del Norte, Asunción campus, during 2023. Materials and methods: Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study based on direct measurements of blood pressure, weight and height, plus a survey. A total of 106 students were included from a population of 131. Sociodemographic variables, family history of arterial hypertension, physical activity, self-reported weight gain, blood pressure and body mass index were described. Results: The most frequent age group was 20–21 years (39%) and 69% of the sample were female. Family history of arterial hypertension was reported by 73%. Overall, 61% were normotensive, 20% had elevated blood pressure, 17% stage 1 hypertension and 2% stage 2 hypertension. Regarding nutritional status, 56.6% had healthy weight, 24.5% overweight, 16.0% obesity and 2.8% underweight. Among those with obesity, 41% had stage 1 hypertension. Conclusions: In this student sample, elevated blood pressure and excess weight were observed, with a higher concentration of hypertensive categories among those with obesity. These descriptive findings support surveillance of cardiovascular risk factors but do not allow statistical association or causality to be established.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Eduardo López Noa, Beatriz del Rocío Quintana López (Autor/a)
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