Introduction:

The presence of arterial hypertension in young population increases the risk of cardiovascular events in middle age and as a consequence premature morbimortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the progression of blood pressure components and the correlation with anthropometric and laboratory measurements in students of the National University of Asuncion, Paraguay.

Materials and methods:

A descriptive correlational, longitudinal, prospective, descriptive study was conducted from 2013 to 2017 evaluating at the beginning 284 undergraduates and 240 at the end of the careers. Sociodemographic variables, anthropometric variables, blood pressure, biochemical determinations were measured. The progression of blood pressure components, anthropometric and clinical variables were calculated using the related samples t-test. The correlation of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure with anthropometric and laboratory variables was correlated with Pearson's correlation.

Results:

The progression of blood pressure components presented a statistically significant difference in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure. In relation to the anthropometric and clinical characteristics of the students, a statistically significant difference was found between the initial and final measurements in weight, abdominal perimeter, glycemia, insulin, total cholesterol, high-density cholesterol, low-density cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein. The most important correlation found between anthropometric measurements with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure was abdominal circumference.

Conclusion:

An increase in the trend of blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors was found in university students.

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