Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the most widely spread modern diseases and one of the leading risk factors for heart and blood vessel diseases, particularly stroke and coronary heart disease. The prevalence of hypertension is about 25% in adults. Many studies show that blood pressure tends to have lower values among people with higher education levels. GOAL: To determine the frequency of measurement and control of blood pressure in relation to the level of education of the active working population of the Sarajevo Canton. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 443 subjects randomly selected from the categories of the active working population of the Sarajevo Canton. The study was conducted at the Center for Heart, Clinical Center University of Sarajevo University through the project "Prevention of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the active working population of the Sarajevo Canton". Respondents were at age in range from 18-65 years, who have voluntarily joined the study. RESULTS: Of 443 (100%) of the respondents 153 (34.5%) were males compared to females whose participation in the sample was 290 (65.5%). Regarding the structure of respondents, the majority of them 213 (48.1%) graduated faculty, 142 (32, 1%) graduated secondary vocational schools and 66 (14.9%) with a higher degree, with the lowest number with completed grammar school (1.4%) and secondary school (0.5%). Blood pressure never measure 16 (3.6%) of respondents, which is not insignificant number, more than 5 years ago 23 (5.2%), within last 1-5 years 90 (20.3%), in the past 12 months 88 (19.9% ) and 226 (51%) measured the blood pressure in the past 6 months. Blood pressure never controlled 4.33% of respondents with secondary or higher education and 2.82% of the respondents with university education. Chi-square test showed a difference between education and the prevalence of blood pressure, χ2=7.812; DF=8; p=0.045. CONCLUSION: Monitoring of blood pressure and frequent measurement can in large number prevent progression of hypertension, which can often remain unnoticed if the blood pressure is not measured regularly. Lower levels of education may be associated with lower socioeconomic status of healthy subjects, as well as the low level of health education, which may be factors that contribute to improper diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, so indirectly affect the occurrence of the disease. Education can be a potential risk factor for high blood pressure during their lifetime and thus the risk factor for other cardiovascular diseases.