The Association of Life Style with Hypertension in Korean Women

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.