1Dr Muhammad Shakeel, 2Dr Sidra Sabahat, 3Dr Qudsia Shaukat
Introduction: Hypertension has been recognized as a global health concern for developing countries and is scarcely described in many of these countries. In Pakistan, few population-based surveys evaluated the prevalence of hypertension and there is no current nationally representative study. Objectives of the study: The basic aim of the study is to find the prevalence of hypertension in Pakistani youth. Methodology of the study: This study was conducted at Shahbaz Sharif Hospital, Multan during Dec 2017 to May 2018. The sample size for the present study was calculated by taking most probable prevalence of hypertension as 50% and permissible error as 5% with 95% confidence interval. Fixing the permissible error as 50%, the minimum sample size was calculated as n = 100. Results: Regarding the self or family history of any chronic disease; 50 (10.3%), and 16 (3.3%) of the total study participants were known hypertensive, and diabetes mellitus (DM) patients respectively, while 82 (16.8%) and 64 (13.1%) have family history of hypertension and DM respectively. On the other hand, 182 (37.4%) and 131 (26.9%) of the total respondents were Chat chewer and smoker respectively. Conclusion: It is concluded that increasing age is proved to be an independent risk factor for hypertension.