Objective  To examine hypertension prevalence and the association of obesity-related indicators with hypertension prevalence among college staff in Jinzhou city of Liaoning province for providing references to hypertension prevention and control.

  Methods  With cluster sampling, we recruited 5 161 staff at 6 universities in Jinzhou city of Liaoning province and then conducted a questionnaire survey among the staff when they had routine physical examination in a general hospital's physical examination center during September - December 2018. The data on the staff's blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were also collected.

  Results  The participants were aged 20 – 59 years, with a mean age of 39.07 ± 6.42 and a male to female ratio of 1.35:1. Among the participants, 1 547 hypertensives were identified and the hypertension prevalence rate was 29.97%. In comparison with those without overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity, significantly higher hypertension prevalence rate were observed among the participants with overweight (53.31% vs. 22.54%), obesity (44.03% vs. 27.61%), and abdominal obesity (49.29% vs. 21.65%) (P < 0.001 for all). The hypertension prevalence rate was 17.96%, 25.02%, 38.92%, and 47.21% for the participants with the BMI quartile value of ≤ 21.60, 21.61 – 23.84, 23.85 – 25.90, and ≥ 25.91 kg/m²; and the hypertension prevalence rate was 18.13%, 26.79%, 39.47%, and 51.97% for the participants with the waist circumference quartile value of ≤ 74.49, 74.50 – 80.89, 80.90 – 87.39, and ≥ 87.40 centimeters, respectively. The prevalence rate of hypertension increased significantly with the increment of both BMI and waist circumference among the participants (both P < 0.001).

  Conclusion  The hypertension prevalence is associated with obesity-related indicators and overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity could increase hypertension prevalence among the college staff in Jinzhou city.