The Association of Life Style with Hypertension in Korean Women

Abstract

Background: This study examined the relationship between lifestyle factors and hypertension in Korean women.
Methods: The subjects were 8,836 women, aged 20 to 81 yr, who visited a health promotion center for a medical check up during 2004-2008. The diagnosis of hypertension was defined in the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC7) report. Statistical significance was set at α<0.05 and SPSS ver. 12.0 software (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) was used.
Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 12.8% in this study population. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that the odds ratio (95% CI) of hypertension across age groups were 3.43 (1.68-7.02) for forties, 7.13 (3.48-14.60) for fifties, 12.97 (6.27-26.81) for sixties, and 24.28 (11.09-53.14) for over seventies compared to the twenties. In addition, compared with the normal weight group, the odds ratio (95% CI) of hypertension in the over-weight and obese groups were 2.41 (2.00-2.89) and 3.50 (2.95-4.16), respectively. The odds ratio (95% CI) of hypertension in those who consumed more than 3 drinks per week was 1.88 (1.29-2.76, P=0.001) compared with non-drinking group.
Conclusion: The significant risk factors of hypertension were age, BMI, and alcohol drinking among Korean women and that smoking, exercise, and diet were not related to the risk of hypertension.