Fatores que influenciam a hipertensão diagnosticada em motoristas e cobradores de uma empresa do transporte coletivo urbano de Santa Maria, RS

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the most dangerous current diseases because by presenting common symptoms to other illnesses such as dizziness, nauseas and headaches, it is often not perceived and, consequently, not treated, being able to lead to death. Between January 2006 and December 2007 a study was developed with drivers and conductors belonging to the Urban Bus Transport Company Expresso Medianeira from Santa Maria, RS with the purpose of verifying which hypertension-related factors differed between hypertenses and monotenses, determining the prevalence and the risk factors associated to hypertension, as well as to obtain a logistic model capable to describe how the chances of being hypertense are related to the investigated variables. Seventy nine voluntary were studied and we have observed a 11,4% prevalence of hypertenses with trust interval ( IC) of 95% (4,1% to 17,9%), with 55% of them being drivers. At the ending of the research we conclude that the hypertenses’ weight was larger than that of the monotenses (p=0,02; IC: 82Kg-104Kg and 79Kg-85Kg respectively), and the same occurred with the IMC (p<0,01; IC: 27Kg/m²-34Kg/m² and 26Kg/m²-27Kg/m² respectively). A significant difference was verified between both groups in variables high pressure diagnosed (p<0,01), ingestion of medication for pressure control (p<0,01), triglycerides (p=0,04), and cholesterol, which in hypertenses was above the ideal level in 22,22% and in monotenses that percentage was of only 1,43%. It was verified by the adjusted logistic model that the only risk factor related to hypertension was the body mass index (IMC) (p<0,01). Therefore, controlling the weight is the main action in order to avoid blood hypertension.