title: Effect of body weight loss on blood pressure after 6 years of follow-up in stage 1 hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although it is known that weight reduction reduces blood pressure (BP) in overweight patients, the optimal body weight (BW) loss in terms of BP response is not yet established. We evaluated the relationship between decrease in BW and BP over time in 796 stage 1 hypertensives.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 166 subjects who lost BW were divided into four groups according to percent of BW loss at the end of a 74-month follow-up (G1, >2% to 5%, G2, >5% to 9%, G3, >9% to 13%, and G4, >13%) and were compared to the 219 subjects without changes in BW (G0, -2% to +2%). The BW increased (>2%) in the remaining 411 subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among subjects with BW loss there was a progressive decrease in final systolic BP associated with BW loss category up to G3 (P = .007), therefore at the end of follow-up G3 had systolic BP 6.2 mm Hg lower than G0 (P = .06). However, among G3 and G4 subjects systolic BP decrease was almost identical (-6.2 nu -5.7 mm Hg, respectively, P = not significant). Similar results were obtained for diastolic BP, which declined up to G3 (P = .013). G3 had final diastolic BP 3.6 mm Hg lower than G0 (P = .037), whereas change in diastolic BP in G4 subjects was similar to that in G0 (-0.9 nu +0.1 mm Hg, respectively, P = not significant). Similar results were obtained in the group with body mass index (BMI) >27 kg/m(2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that in stage 1 hypertensives followed for more than 6 years the dose-response relationship between BW loss and decrease in BP is not linear irrespective of initial BW. The BW loss >13% of initial weight did not elicit additional BP decrease.
authors.affiliation: University of Padova, Padova, Italy. mikolaj_winnicki@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mikolaj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winnicki
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonso
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dorigatti
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Vania
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zaetta
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mattarei
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: D'Este
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Laurini
authors.forename: Achille C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pessina
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palatini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019370:Observation; D013995:Time; D015431:Weight Loss