Abstract

Background: Obesity is a rising problem in young adults and it predisposes to many diseases. Obesity and stress together can increase the risk to developing lifestyle diseases. Medical students are under stress.

Aims and Objectives: To find the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and response to cold pressor test (CPT) in young medical students at a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai.

Materials and Methods: A total of 74 medical students studying in the first MBBS performed, the CPT. Blood pressure (BP) recording was taken before and immediately after the test. Analysis of data was performed by SPSS 21. Mann–Whitney test for correlation was applied.

Results: In males and females increasing BMI showed a positive correlation with rise in systolic pressure after CPT. The rise in diastolic pressure after CPT showed a positive correlation to BMI only in females and negative correlation in males.

Conclusion: Females medical students with higher BMI are more prone to increase in BP during stress. However, male students showed only a rise in systolic pressure and not in the diastolic pressure so further study is required.

Key words: Body Mass Index; Cold Pressor Test; Medical Students