Prevalence of arterial hypertension among school teachers in Sofia

The aim of the present study was to investigate the age-related changes of blood pressure (BP) and prevalence of arterial hypertension (AH) among school teachers. 168 female teachers between 25 and 55 years of age from comprehensive and technical schools in Sofia were studied. A group of 103 female employees (designers, researchers) served as controls. The age-related changes of systolic and diastolic BP were more pronounced in the teachers' group. An abrupt elevation of mean SBP was disclosed in teachers more than 45 years old and a significant difference of SBP between teachers during the first and second half of the fourth decade was found. The elevation of the DBP with age was more expressed among the teachers than the controls. A strong positive correlation between teachers' length of service and the levels of SBP and DBP was revealed (r = 0.56; p < 0.001 and r = 0.50; p < 0.001, respectively). The similarity in age distribution, body weight and tobacco consumption of the subjects of both examined groups, disqualify these variables as risk factors for the obtained age-related differences. The estimated relative risk for AH among teachers in total was 1.5 and the AH prevalence among teachers over 40 years old was 31%, which can classify this occupation as high risk for AH.