Cross-Sectional Study of Hypertension in Young: A Tertiary Care Center Experience

Introduction: Nowadays, hypertension is seen in the young in whom it has a potential to cause target organ damage. The importance is to diagnose the secondary causes of hypertension in young and treat them to reduce morbidity and mortality. This study was planned for looking into the clinical profile of hypertension in young patients with the objective to evaluate the etiological profile in them. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study carried out at tertiary care center from July 2021 to June 2022. All patients with hypertension below 35 years of age were systemically reviewed using a predesigned preapproved standardized pro forma. The patients were evaluated for all causes of secondary hypertension; else it was labeled as primary hypertension. Results: About 33.3% of patients were diagnosed to have primary hypertension and 66.6% of patients were diagnosed to have secondary hypertension. The 2:1 male-to-female ratio was seen in this study with mean age of 30.6 ± 3.8 years. The mean body mass index was 24.2 ± 2.3 kg/m 2 . About 13.3% of patients had a family history of hypertension, 40% were smokers, 33.3% had cardiac involvement, 26.7% had renal involvement, and 23.3% had eye involvement. Twenty percent of patients had raised low-density lipoprotein, whereas 16.7% of patients each had reduced high-density lipoprotein and hypertriglyceridemia. Ten percent of patients had associated type 2 diabetes mellitus and 3.3% had impaired fasting glucose. Conclusion: This study found that the majority of young patients had the secondary cause of hypertension which may be amenable to cure in certain cases. Hence, it is important to do extensive screening. This is further highlighted in young male hypertensive cases.