A Community based Cross Sectional Study to Assess the Association between Indices of Obesity and Hypertension Varghese Arun1, Durgawale Prakash M2,*, Kakade Satish V3, Mane Dhirajkumar A4, Patil Supriya S5 1Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, DMWIMS (Dr Moopen's Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences), Wayanad, Kerala 2Professor & Head, Directorate of Research, KIMSDU, 3Associate Professor cum Statistician, Directorate of Research, KIMSDU, 4Statistician, Directorate of Research, KIMSDU, 5Associate Professor, Dean of Academics, Department of Community Medicine, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Karad, Satara, (Maharashtra) India *Corresponding author: Dr. Prakash M Durgawale, Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, KIMS, Karad, Maharashtra
Online published on 6 April, 2019. Abstract Background Hypertension is associated with a reduced quality of life and also an increased risk for various cardiovascular, renal, neurological and multiple systemic complications. Objectives To determine the prevalence of hypertension and to find out the association between anthropometric indices and hypertension. Material and Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 1509 individuals ≥30 years in the rural population of Kasegaon village, Maharashtra by a house to house survey during December 2015 to May 2016. Blood pressure (BP), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) and Body Mass Index (BMI) were measured according to WHO guidelines. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 20 using chi-square test and odds ratio. Results The prevalence of hypertension in our study was 10.74%. An increase in BMI, WC, WHR were found as risk factors for hypertension. 6.8% (n=7) were hypertensives among those with underweight, 7.5% (n=75) of the population with a normal BMI were found to be hypertensive, 13.0% (n=42) were hypertensives among the overweight category, and 19.5% (n=16) were hypertensive among the obese category. The prevalence of hypertension among those having normal WC was found to be 7.3% (n=88), 12.7% (n=18) were hypertensive among those with WC in the increased risk category and the 21.4% (n=34) were hypertensive among those who had a substantially increased risk WC. Among those who were in less risk WHR category, the prevalence of hypertension were 7.2% (n=88) and 18.2% (n=52) individuals were hypertensives among the substantially increased risk WHR category. Conclusion The importance and need of weight reduction by increasing physical activity, lifestyle modification should be incorporated into the community to control this problem. Top Keywords Hypertension, Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference, Waist Hip Ratio. Top |