Cold Pressor Test in Borderline Hypertensive University Students.

Background Hyperactive sympathetic reaction is an important factor for development of hypertension in young individuals. The stress induced increase in blood pressure recovers within very short period of time and those with exaggerated stress induced cardiovascular response at young age have a high risk of blood pressure elevation in future. Objective To determine the cardiovascular reactivity in response to cold and to correlate its relation with factors such as smoking, family history and physical activity. Method Study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacy, Kathmandu University from July to November, 2015. Resting blood pressure was recorded using sphygmomanometer in sitting position after 5 minutes of rest. Out of 130 volunteers, 34 were found to be prehypertensive and equal number of normotensive were recruited randomly to perform the test. The subjects were directed to immerse his/her right hand up to the wrist in cold water of 10˚C for 1 minute. The blood pressure was recorded just before the hand was taken out of the water and then 1.5 minutes and 4 minutes after the withdrawal. Data was analyzed by Student's t test using Microsoft Excel 2007. Result Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased significantly after cold pressor test in both normal (systolic blood pressure from 110±6.46 to 119±9.45 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure from 71±4.63 to 78±6.15 mmHg) and prehypertensive group (systolic blood pressure from 122±6.75 to 126±8.05 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure from 79±6.78 to 85±7.76 mmHg). Maximum recovery in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed in 2.5 minutes of removal of hand from cold water. Though sharp drop was observed in blood pressure at the end of 2.5 minute in both groups of individuals, the recovery in case of prehypertensive individual was not sharper. In the present study, significant rise in diastolic blood pressure was observed in prehypertensive smoking males. Also the difference was significant (p<0.02) in recovery of diastolic blood pressure between smoker and non smoker prehypertensive group. Conclusion This study suggests that prolonged elevation in blood pressure in response to stress in young individual can be used as marker of development of hypertension in future. Adopting a healthier lifestyle can help to delay the development of hypertension in later life.

Using behavioural science in public health settings during the COVID-19 pandemic: The experience of public health practitioners and behavioural scientists.

INTRODUCTION: The emergence of COVID-19 and the importance of behaviour change to limit its spread created an urgent need to apply behavioural science to public health. Knowledge mobilisation, the processes whereby research leads to useful findings that are implemented to affect positive outcomes, is a goal for researchers, policy makers and practitioners alike. This study aimed to explores the experience of using behavioural science in public health during COVID-19, to discover barriers and facilitators and whether the rapidly changing context of COVID-19 influenced knowledge mobilisation. METHODS: We conducted a semi-structured interview study, with ten behavioural scientists and seven public health professionals in England, Scotland, Wales, The Netherlands and Canada. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: We report three key themes and 10 sub-themes: 1.Challenges and facilitators of translation of behavioural science into public health (Methods and frameworks supported translation, Lack of supportive infrastructure, Conviction and sourcing of evidence and Embracing behavioural science) 2. The unique context of translation (Rapid change in context, the multi-disciplinary team and the emotional toll). 3. Recommendations to support future behavioural science translation (Embedding experts into teams, Importance of a collaborative network and showcasing the role of behavioural science). DISCUSSION: Barriers and facilitators included factors related to relationships between people, such as networks and teams; the expertise of individual people; and those related to materials, such as the use of frameworks and an overwhelming amount of evidence and literature. CONCLUSION: People and frameworks were seen as important in facilitating behavioural science in practice. Future research could explore how different frameworks are used. We recommend a stepped competency framework for behavioural science in public health and more focus on nurturing networks to facilitate knowledge mobilisation in future emergencies.