A CORRELATIONAL STUDY ON BLOOD PRESSURE, STRESS AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) AMONG BSC NURSING STUDENTS IN A SELECTED COLLEGE OF NURSING UDUPI DISTRICT

Abstract

Increasing trend of hypertension and overweight have become a global health problem among youngsters. Over weight is strongly related to high blood pressure and the consequences of the increasing prevalence of overweight will be enormous in the future. Students in nursing profession are adolescents and they may have adjustment problems with new surroundings such as hostel, hospital and new curriculum. The stress experienced may predispose them to have increased blood pressure. A Cross sectional, correlational survey was conductedon blood pressure, stress and body mass index (BMI) among 200 BSc. Nursing Students in a selected college of nursing in Udupi District. The objectives of the study were to determine the blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI) and stress level of BSc nursing students, to compare the BP, BMI and stress of various batches of BSc nursing students and to determine the relationship among Blood pressure, BMI and stress. It is observed that 45% of the subjects were in pre hypertensive stage, and 3% in hypertension stage. Majority of the subjects had normal BMI. Moderate stress was experienced by 95.5% of the subjects. Study found a weak but positive correlation between BMI and BP and negative correlation with stress. A significant difference was found in mean stress score among four batches of students. There was no significant difference in BMI and BP of four batches of students. As nursing students experience stress, adequate support structures for clinical areas, preceptorshipprogrammes and the availability of student counselling services may be helpful to cope with the stress experienced.