Objective: The purpose of this study to determine the prevalence of both pre-hypertension and hypertension and risk factors associated with newly diagnosed Saudi military active duty service personnel. Methods: Community-based screening of 1283 Saudi military active duty service personnel was conducted during the period September - December 2007 at six randomly selected out of a total of 15 military units of Taif region, Western of Saudi Arabia. Screening tools included self-administrated questionnaire, general physical examination, anthropometric measurements and assessment of blood pressure. Results: All par-ticipants were Saudi males. Their age ranged from 19-56 years old with mean ± SD of 37.2 ± 7.02. By applying the Joint Na-tional Committee on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high hypertension (JNC-7) criteria, 214 ( 17.3 % ) were considered pre-hypertensive. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that obesity as measured by body mass index ( OR = 2.71 CI: 1.39-5.28 ), positive family history ( OR = 1.46 CI: 1.03-2.06 ), ever smoking ( OR = 1.45 CI: 1.05-2.02), and in-creased waist circumference ( OR = 1.04 CI:1. 02-1.06) were the significant predictors of workplace newly diagnosed hyperten-sion among military active duty personnel. Conclusion: Pre-hypertension is a common hidden problem and it predicts the devel-opment of frank hypertension. Findings of the current study support the recommendation of lifestyle modification for pre-hyperten-sion patients. However, further prospective studied are required to determine the role of pharmacotherapy in pre-hypertension.
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