title: Body weight reduction necessary to attain normotension in the overweight hypertensive patient.
abstract: All 212 patients with essential hypertension and an overweight of at least 10 per cent in excess of ideal body weight, referred to out clinic in the years 1975-1979, were included in this study. The patients were advised to take a balanced low-calorie (about 1080 kcal/day) diet containing 83 g carbohydrates, 41.5 g fat and 85 g proteins. They were advised to eat salt freely. There were 40 patients who had four clinic visits or less and 49 others who could not follow their diet. Therefore the compliance-failure rate was 89/212, ie 42 per cent. Decrease in body weight resulted in a significant decrease in blood pressure, despite free ingestion of salt and with 24-h urine sodium which was not different from that obtained before dietary therapy was started. Over two-thirds of the compliant patients will achieve normal blood pressure with a loss of only one-half of their weight excess, even if at this point they are still overweight. In the group receiving no diuretic or any other anti-hypertensive therapy, 82.6 percent reached normal systolic blood pressures and 78.3 per cent reached normal diastolic blood pressures, but only 31/38 reached a body weight within 10 per cent of ideal body weight. It is concluded that most of overweight hypertensive patients can attain a normal blood pressure by reducing body weight, long before achieving the ideal weight.
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012964:Sodium / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D012964:Sodium