title: [High blood pressure prevalence in Oporto sedentary and regular exercise practicing people].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The association between the lack of exercise and prevalence of high blood pressure (HBP) is a well known fact. The non-pharmacological treatment for HBP includes regular aerobic exercise practicing.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 900 individuals, aged above 40, resident in Oporto, representing the 15 parishes of the city, were approached to answer a questionnaire about exercise habits and diagnosis of HBP. The exercise practitioner was defined as the one who practices aerobic exercise for a minimal period of 30 minutes at least 3 times a week. For data analysis non-parametric tests (Pearson's Chi-Square) were used through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HBP prevalence in the sample was 39.67% (Confidence Interval (IC) 95%, 36,46% to 42,87%). The HBP prevalence in the exercise practitioners was inferior to the one of the non-practitioners (13,78% vs 25,89%, p < 0,001). This result is valid to the male 33,5% vs 51,6%, p < 0,001) and female population (27,1% vs 51,9%, p < 0,001), as well as to the population without the most frequent HBP-related comorbidities (21,8% vs 44,6%, p < 0,001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HBP prevalence in the population resident in Oporto city is higher in the non-practitioners of regular exercise. The HBP prevalence, in both sexes, is higher in the non-practitioners of exercise. Finally, we can also conclude that the studied comorbidities don't bias the obtained results because the group of individuals who don't have them the HBP prevalence is still higher in the group of sedentary.
authors.affiliation: Hospital de Santo António, Porto.
authors.forename: Humberto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Ana Sofia
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinoco
authors.forename: Cátia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Cátia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.forename: Duarte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rego
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: Micaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prata
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Sílvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires