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Abstracts / Journal of the American Society of Hypertension 8(4S) (2014) e119e122

as well as at the end of the study. After three months of therapy, men with
grade 2 obesity have reduced their SBP significantly less (mean decrease
from baseline 20.9111.63 mmHg) than did men with normal weight
(mean decrease from baseline 30.1912.08 mmHg) and men with grade
1 obesity (mean decrease from baseline 29.9112.99 mmHg). Women
with grade 2 obesity have reduced their SBP significantly less (mean
decrease from baseline 21.7716.05 mmHg) than did women with
normal weight (mean decrease from baseline 29.8212.14 mmHg)
and compared to overweight women (mean decrease from baseline
28.4211.88 mmHg). The highest reduction in DBP after three months
was reported among women with grade 1 obesity (mean decrease from
baseline 17.768.73 mmHg), followed by overweight women (mean
decrease from baseline 15.408.29 mmHg), and in women with normal
weight (mean decrease from baseline 14.859.81 mmHg); the lowest
decrease of DBP was recorded among women with grade 2 obesity
(mean decrease from baseline 9.266.60 mmHg). The differences between the groups were statistically significant. In men, DBP changed to
similar extent in relation to body weight categories.
Conclusion: Overweight and obesity may influence the rate of decrease of
systolic and diastolic blood pressure during a three-month antihypertensive
therapy with lisinopril and hydrochlorthiazide.
Keywords: fixed antihypertensive therapy; obesity; overweight; follow-up
P-218
Sleep quality, stress, depressive symptoms, and body-mass index as
predictors of elevated blood pressures in college students
Christopher R. Dubuque,1 William J. Elliott,1 Richard May.2 1Pacific
Northwest University of Health Sciences, Yakima, WA, United States;
2
Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR, United States
After being stable at 292% for more than a decade, the age-adjusted
prevalence of hypertension has recently increased in the US, allegedly

due to an aging population and increased body weight, particularly in

youth. To assess the potential contributions of other lifestyle-related risk
factors for elevated blood pressures in college students, a convenience
sample of 89 college students (age: 225, range: 18-50 years, 30%
male) signed informed consent, had three seated, automated blood pressures (BPs) and a body-mass index (BMI) measured, obtained a 12-hour
fasting blood sample for glucose and lipid levels, and took the Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Student Stress Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale during January, 2010. Data
were analyzed using IBM SPSS (Armonk, NY). Hypertension (BP 
140/90 mm Hg) or prehypertension (BP 120-139/80-89 mm Hg) was detected in 14% or 49% of the sample; 28% had systolic BP  130 mm
Hg, and 20% had diastolic BP  85 mm Hg. Overweight (BMI > 25
kg/m2) or obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) was present in 28% or 16%, respectively. Poor sleep (PSQI < 5) was detected in 75% (35% reported < 7
hours; 10% < 5 hours of sleep/night). The BDI disclosed mild (score:
14-19) or "severe" (score > 29) depressive symptoms in 11% or 1% of the
students, respectively. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, after adjusting for gender and age, only being overweight was significantly associated (P 0.008) with systolic BP  130 mm Hg (presumably because of
high intrinsic variability of the measurement). Diastolic BP  85 mm Hg
was inversely correlated with PSQI (P 0.003), and showed a direct trend
with obesity (P 0.07). Poor sleep (on the PSQI) was significantly
correlated with higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (P <
0.02) and Student Stress Scale (P 0.050). No significant relationship
was seen between these parameters and fasting blood glucose, cholesterol,
triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. These data suggest that, in this sample of college
students, both overweight/obesity and poor sleep were significant predictors of elevated BPs, and that poor sleep may be related to depressive
symptoms and stress.
Keywords: beck depression inventory