Relationship between lifestyle pattern and blood pressure - Iranian national survey

We aimed to evaluate the relationship between different lifestyle patterns and blood pressure. This study is based on the national survey of the risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Iran in 2012. A total of 8244 people aged 25-70 years old have been enrolled in the survey. Clustering on the individual data of lifestyle factors (nutrition, physical activity, and smoking) were carried out using self-organizing neural network method. Multivariable regression models were used to determine the relationship between blood pressure and the clusters. This study revealed seven lifestyle clusters in the national survey. The first cluster had a healthier lifestyle (15%), and the rest of the clusters had at least one or more lifestyle-related risk factors. Among all the clusters, people in two clusters, i.e. one characterized by consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, salt, and fast foods, and the other one characterized by physical inactivity, were more exposed to the risk of hypertension (odds ratios of 1.44 and 1.12, respectively). People in another cluster who were 100% smokers and had a very high level of work-related physical activity were about 30% less likely to experience elevated blood pressure. Although a lifestyle with cigarette smoking was associated with a reduction in blood pressure, this might be due to other related factors, such as work-related physical activity, which lower blood pressure. Of course, this hypothesis still needs to be further studied in the future.