Undiagnosed Hypertension among Youth (18-24 years) Referred to the Nutrition Clinic in Ardabil City, North West of Iran, from 2016 to 2018

Blood pressure among youth is associated with increased risk of future cardiovascular disease occurrence. The studies done on hypertension prevalence among young population are still insufficient. The purpose of this study was to determine undiagnosed hypertension, based on the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC7) on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure updated guidelines among the apparently healthy young group of Iranian population.

In this cross-sectional study, 901 volunteers, without previous hypertension history, in the age group of 18-24 years old (body mass index< 40 kg/m2) were assessed in Ardabil city from September 2016 to March 2008.They were apparently healthy youth and reported that their body weight had been stable for at least the last 3 months. Blood pressure was measured by standardized protocols based on American Heart Association guidelines, and the final value was obtained using the mean of the two careful readings of office blood pressure monitoring. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21.0. One-way analysis of variance was applied to determine the differences among hypertension groups, and p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

The mean of age, weight and body mass index was 19.48±1.64 (years), 60.54±11.45 (kg) and 21.39±3.17 (kg/m2), respectively. According to the JNC7 updated guidelines (2017), 17.4% subjects fell into elevated blood pressure whereas 2.1% and 1.7% into stage I and II hypertension category, respectively. Males were significantly more likely to have elevated blood pressure and stage I and stage II hypertension than females (p<0.001).

According to the JNC7 updated guidelines, there is a significant prevalence of undiagnosed elevated blood pressure and hypertension (21.1%) among Iranian youth population. These results emphasize the need for careful monitoring of the blood pressure even among apparently healthy young adults.