Assessment of risk factors for hypertension and diabetes in penultimate and final year pharmacy students in a University in South-Western Nigeria.
Akinniyi A. Aje , Boluwatife B. Adigun and Love T. Okedele
1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy,University of Ibadan.
Corresponding author: Akinniyi A. Aje
Email: aje123@gmail.com Phone number: +2348035684484
ABSTRACT
Background: It is vital to carry out risk factor assessment for diabetes and hypertension among undergraduate students, as they may be unaware of some risk factors that may predispose them to becoming diabetic and/or hypertensive.
Objectives: To carry out assessment of risk factors for hypertension and diabetes in penultimate and final year students of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 124 penultimate and final year students of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan. A pretested questionnaire was used to garner information on risk factors predisposing to hypertension and diabetes. Anthropometric measurements and objective readings were taken. Data was analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 23.
Results: Response rate was 84.7 % (105/124). There were 68 (64.8 %) female participants. The prevalence of hypertension was 7.6% and 43 (41.0%) were pre-hypertensive. None of the study population had diabetes, however, 4 (3.8%) were pre-diabetic. The waist circumference risk classification of participants shows 95 (90.5%), 6 (5.7%), 3 (2.9%) and 1 (1.0%) participants had least, increased, high and very high risk of developing hypertension respectively. Ten (9.5 %) participants were overweight, 2 (1.9 %) were obese and 5 (4.8 %) had abnormal waist-hip ratio.
Conclusion: The study revealed that risk factors for hypertension and diabetes exist among the undergraduate students studied and points to a need for targeted public health campaigns among students.
Keywords: Risk factor assessment, Pharmacy students, Diabetes and hypertension.