Key result
Hypertension affects ~31% of medical students in Goma, linked to obesity, alcohol, and sleep duration.
Why the study?
High blood pressure is a long-term health condition that elevates the risk of premature death, motivating this study to evaluate its prevalence and identify lifestyle-related risk factors among students at the University of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A high prevalence of hypertension (31.4%) was observed among medical students in the Democratic Republic of Congo, significantly associated with lifestyle factors including obesity, alcohol consumption, and short sleep duration.
May warrant screening in medical students; hypothesis-generating for lifestyle links, needing prospective validation.
High blood pressure (HBP) is a long-term health condition that elevates the risk of premature death in the general population. This research sought to evaluate how widespread hypertension is and to identify lifestyle-related risk factors among students at the University of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A cross-sectional survey was conducted, and data were collected using a questionnaire. A total of 306 students participated in the survey; 52.6% were male. Results showed that 31.4% of participants had HBP (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg). Risk factors associated with hypertension included obesity (OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.292-0.893; p=0.019), alcohol consumption (OR: 0.299; 95% CI: 0.181-0.495; p<0.001), family history of hypertension (OR: 0.411; 95% CI: 0.25-0.676; p<0.001), personal history of hypertension (OR: 0.241; 95% CI: 0.092-0.634; p=0.004), and sleep duration (OR: 8.043; 95% CI: 4.51-14.346; p<0.001). In conclusion, the prevalence of HBP was high and was associated with several lifestyle factors among students at the University of Goma.
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Kangitsi et al. (2025) studied this question. 31.4% of medical students in Goma had high blood pressure, with significant associations to obesity, alcohol consumption, and sleep duration.
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