Clinical and demographical characteristics of study subjects
| Variable | Normotensive subjects (n=747) | Hypertensive patients (n=431) | p Value |
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 41.61 (13.18) | 53.38 (12.05) | 0.000** |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 363 (48.6) | 227 (52.7) | 0.178 |
| Female | 384 (51.4) | 204 (47.3) | |
| Education | |||
| Illiterate | 50 (11.1) | 83 (11.6) | 0.159 |
| Elementary | 123 (22.9) | 171 (28.5) | |
| High school | 106 (27.4) | 205 (24.6) | |
| College | 152 (38.6) | 288 (35.3) | |
| Socio-economic status | |||
| Lower | 129 (17.3) | 52 (12.1) | 0.039* |
| Middle | 551 (73.8) | 331 (76.8) | |
| Upper | 67 (9.0) | 48 (11.1) | |
| Smoking | 211 (28.2) | 109 (25.3) | 0.272 |
| Physical inactivity | 195 (26.1) | 205 (47.6) | 0.000** |
| Low/no fruit intake | 432 (57.8) | 289 (67.1) | 0.002* |
| Family history of hypertension | 234 (31.3) | 145 (33.6) | 0.412 |
| Diabetes (history or fasting blood sugar ≥126 mg/dl or PGBS ≥200 mg/dl) | 64 (8.6) | 121 (28.1) | 0.000** |
| General obesity body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 | 267 (35.7) | 249 (57.8) | 0.000** |
| Central obesity (waist circumference: men ≥90 cm, women ≥80 cm) | 286 (38.3) | 290 (67.3) | 0.000** |
| Hypercholesterolaemia ≥200 mg/dl | 164 (22.0) | 109 (25.3) | 0.191 |
| Hypertriglyceridaemia ≥150 mg/dl | 230 (30.8) | 214 (49.7) | 0.000** |
| High low-density lipoprotein ≥130 mg/dl | 187 (25.0) | 78 (18.1) | 0.006** |
| Low high-density lipoprotein (men <40 mg/dl, women <50 mg/dl) | 331 (44.3) | 222 (51.5) | 0.017* |
Numbers in parenthesis indicate percentages.
*p<0.05, **p<0.01.
PGBS, post glucose blood sugar.