Relationship of body mass index and waist to hip ratio measurement with hypertension in young adult medical students

摘要

Objectives: To examine the BMI profile and waist to hip ratio measurements of young adult medical students of Lahore medical and dental college and its relationship with hypertension. Methodology: All the students of Lahore medical & dental college were asked to undergo physical examination. Height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were recorded. The partial correlation coefficient was used to quantify the association between BMI and waist-to-hip circumference ratio with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the influence of body mass index and waist-to-hip circumference ratio on the variance of systolic and diastolic BP. Results: Mean BMI was 23.24 (SD±4.31). Descriptive analysis revealed that 103(21.3%) of the study population were classified as underweight, 251(52 %) as normal weight, 99 (20.5%) as overweight, and 30 (6.2 %) as obese. Abdominal adiposity, as measured by increased WHR, was present in 56 subjects (11.59 %). Partial correlation controlled for age revealed strong positive correlation between BMI and WHR for males.7.24% had high systolic blood pressure, minimum systolic BP was 90 while maximum being 160mmHg. Same was the value for high diastolic blood pressure i.e. 35 (7.24%), range was from 60 to 100mm Hg. Results of the partial correlation coefficient controlled for age, indicated a significant positive correlation between SBP and DBP. Stepwise linear regression analysis controlled for age revealed that both body mass index and waist-to-hip circumference ratio were independently correlated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Conclusions: The present results suggest that prevalence of overweight and obesity among the medical students is higher than in general population. Those with either higher BMI or central adiposity distribution are potential candidates of increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.