Community-Based Screening for Pre-hypertension among Military Active Duty Personnel

• Main Authors: Fayssal Farahat, Fathi Saleem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria University 2007-03-01
• Series: Journal of High Institute of Public Health
• Subjects: screening; prehypertension; military

Background: The majority of hypertension cases are asymptomatic and, therefore, goes unrecognized and untreated, leading to a high risk of coronary artery diseases, heart failure, renal failure, and cardiovascular diseases. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of both pre-hypertension and hypertension and risk factors associated with newly diagnosed Saudi military active duty service personnel. Methods: Community-based screening of 1238 Saudi military active duty service personnel was conducted during the period September – December 2007 at six randomly selected out of a total of 15 military units of Taif region, Western of Saudi Arabia. Screening tools included self-administrated questionnaire, general physical examination, anthropometric measurements, and assessment of blood pressure. Results: All participants were Saudi males. Their age ranged from 19-56 years old with mean ±SD of 37.2±7.02. By applying the Joint National Committee on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high hypertension (JNC-7) criteria, 214 (17.3%) were considered pre-hypertensive. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that obesity as measured by body mass index (OR=2.71, CI: 1.39-5.28), positive family history (OR=1.46, CI:1.03-2.06), ever smoking (OR=1.45, CI:1.05-2.02), and increased waist circumference (OR=1.04, CI:1.02-1.06) were the significant predictors of workplace newly diagnosed hypertension among military active duty personnel. Conclusion: Pre-hypertension is a common hidden problem and it predicts the development of frank hypertension. Findings of the current study support the recommendation of lifestyle modification for pre-hypertension patients. However, further prospective studied are required to determine the role of pharmacotherapy in pre-hypertension.