Double the Prevalence of Stage 2 Hypertension Readings in a Small Group of American Pre-clinical Medical Students Compared to Young Adults Diagnosed with Stage 2 Hypertension in the United States.

Objective The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of hypertension (HTN) in pre-clinical (first- and second-year) medical students at Lincoln Memorial University to that of the United States population and identify risk factors in this group. Materials and Methods Students from the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine completed a survey that queried age, gender, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, diet, aerobic exercise, mental health, social support, amount of sleep per night, and past medical history. Omron BP710N (Omron 3 series) sphygmomanometers were used to measure blood pressures in the left arm. Waist circumference was measured around the umbilicus. HTN stages were defined under the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines. Univariate, binominal, and multinomial regression analyses of risk factors were performed using SPSS v22.0 with α = 0.05.  Results Of the 213 students surveyed, 49.8% (106/213) were males, 49.3% (105/213) were females, and 0.9% (2/213) declined to reveal their gender. The mean age of the sample was 25.8 years (SD = 2.75 years) and the range was between 21 and 37 years. Under the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines, 36.6% (78/213) were normotensive; 16.4% (35/213) had elevated blood pressure; 29.1% (62/213) had stage 1 HTN; and 17.8% (38/213) had stage 2 HTN. A multinomial logistic regression model was significant,