Comparative study of blood pressure levels in local healthy male sedentary people and manual workers

ABSTRACT

To compare the levels of blood pressures in local sedentary and manual male workers. Design: Sedentary, light and heavy manual workers were randomly selected on the basis of their occupational activities for the last five years. Setting: Department of Physiology, Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi. Subjects: Seventy three male apparently healthy subjects from three occupational groups of approximately the same age, weight and height. Main outcome measures: Body mass index [BMI], weight, pulse rate and blood pressure levels were measured manually while their fasting glucose and haemoglobin levels were determined chemically. Significantly higher [P<0.05 and 0.001] pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures were observed in sedentary subjects as compared to light manual and heavy manual workers. However, when light manual workers were compared with heavy manual workers, only the diastolic blood pressure was found to be significantly lower [P<0.05] in heavy manual workers. Non-significantly [P>0.05] different levels of haemoglobin [13.9 +/- 0.1 4 vs 13.6 +/- 0.1 5 g/dl] and blood glucose [84.3 +/- 1.15 vs 85 +/- 0.85 mg/dl] were observed in sedentary and manual workers, respectively which were within normal limits. Conclusions: Occupational physical activity has beneficial effects on pulse rate and blood pressure levels. And there is an increased likelihood of coronary artery disease associated with reduced physical activity