Arterial hypertension in medical students: a formative blind spot

Authors

Keywords:

Hypertension; Medical Students; Self-Care; Medical Education; Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Abstract

Hypertension among medical students is an underdiagnosed problem that contradicts the formative mission of medical schools. This letter comments on the study by Smith-Ordóñez et al. on pediatric hypertension, and extends its reflection to the medical undergraduate setting. Evidence from Bolivia, India, and Cuba is discussed, showing elevated blood pressure prevalence among students, along with contributing factors such as academic stress, sedentary behavior, and smoking. It is argued that blood pressure self-care is not integrated into the medical curriculum, and a concrete intervention is proposed: periodic voluntary blood pressure measurement sessions for medical students themselves, coordinated by the Department of Comprehensive General Medicine. Blood pressure under-registration in undergraduate medical education deserves the same concern as that in pediatric populations.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Smith-Ordóñez Y, González-Valdés RdlC, Díaz-Rodríguez Y, Juara-Espinosa M, González-Díaz A, Almeida-Rodríguez AF. Análisis clínico-epidemiológico de la hipertensión arterial pediátrica en Hospital Dr. Mario Muñoz Monroy de Colón, 2024. MedEst [Internet]. 2025 [citado 17 Ago 2026];5:e339. Disponible en: https://revmedest.sld.cu/index.php/medest/article/view/339

2. World Health Organization. Global report on hypertension: the race against a silent killer [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023 [citado 17 Ago 2026]. Disponible en: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240081062

3. Tejerina Miranda CA, Espinoza Ustarez CA, Chavez Varas CX. Prevalencia de hipertensión arterial y presión arterial elevada en estudiantes universitarios de Medicina de primer año, segundo año y tercer año de la Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo Unidad Académica Tarija. Rev Med San Pablo [Internet]. 2026 [citado 18 Ago 2026];1(1):86-96. Disponible en: https://rmsp.ucb.edu.bo/index.php/a/article/view/8

4. Tiwari NP, Jiwane R, Gupta S, Raghuwanshi GS. Central adiposity and anthropometric indices as gender-specific predictors of systolic blood pressure in young adults. Cureus [Internet]. 2025 [citado 17 Ago 2026];17(7):e88961. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.88961

5. Writing Committee Members; Jones DW, Ferdinand KC, Taler SJ, Johnson HM, Shimbo D, Abdalla M, et al. 2025 AHA/ACC/AANP/AAPA/ABC/ACCP/ACPM/AGS/AMA/ASPC/NMA/PCNA/SGIM guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults. Hypertension [Internet]. 2025 [citado 18 Ago 2026];82(10):e212-e316. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1161/HYP.0000000000000249

6. Hernández-León ML, Cruz-Martínez I, Téllez-Veranes T, Rodríguez-Fernández MC. Estrés académico en estudiantes de Medicina diagnosticados en la Unidad de Orientación Estudiantil. MEDISAN [Internet]. 2023 [citado 18 Ago 2026];27(2):e4410. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?pid=S1029-30192023000200007&script=sci_abstract

7. Agüero Fuentes O, Losada Robaina M, Agüero Fuentes M. Ejercicios físicos dirigidos a la prevención de conductas sedentarias en estudiantes universitarios. Varona [Internet]. 2023 [citado 19 Ago 2026];1(78):1-12. Disponible en: http://revistas.ucpejv.edu.cu/index.php/rVar/article/view/2230

8. Godínez Linares R, Ferrer Monier A, Velázquez Hernández M, Pacios Dorado JL, Tarife Romero IE, Barroso Fontanals ME. Caracterización del tabaquismo en estudiantes de la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río. Univ. Méd. Pinareña [Internet]. 24 de noviembre de 2023 [citado 19 de agosto de 2026];19:e983. Disponible en: https://revgaleno.sld.cu/index.php/ump/article/view/983

9. Wan DWJ, Goh LSH, Teo MYK, Loh CJL, Yak GHK, Lee JJH, et al. Enhancing self-care education amongst medical students: a systematic scoping review. BMC Med Educ [Internet]. 2024 [citado 19 Ago 2026];24:37. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04965-z

Downloads

Published

2026-09-13

How to Cite

1.
Zequeira-García B. Arterial hypertension in medical students: a formative blind spot. MedEst [Internet]. 2026 Sep. 13 [cited 2026 Sep. 22];6. Available from: https://revmedest.sld.cu/index.php/medest/article/view/573

Issue

Vol. 6 (2026): Continuous Publication

Section

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Brian Zequeira-García

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Those authors who have publications with this journal accept the following terms: The authors will retain their copyright and guarantee the journal the right of first publication of their work, which will be simultaneously subject to the Recognition License. Creative Commons that allows third parties to share the work as long as its author and its first publication in this magazine are indicated. Authors may adopt other non-exclusive license agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (e.g.: deposit it in an institutional telematic archive or publish it in a monographic volume) as long as the initial publication in this journal is indicated. Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate their work through the Internet (e.g.: in institutional telematic archives or on your website) before and during the submission process, which can produce interesting exchanges and increase citations of the published work.