Relationship of body mass index with haemodynamic variables and abnormalities in young adults.
We aimed at investigating whether the degree of adiposity is related to haemodynamic variables such as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and resting heart rate (HR), and to haemodynamic abnormalities such as hypertension and resting tachycardia. A cross-sectional study was carried out among young students in Ebonyi State University, Nigeria. A total of 710 subjects (350 males and 360 females) aged 20-25 years were recruited for the study. Resting blood pressure and HR of subjects were measured and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated from height and weight measurements. The observed prevalences in this study were as follows: overweight, 20% in males and 26% in females; obesity, 8% in males and 6% in females; hypertension, 17% in males and 14% in females; and resting tachycardia, 22% in males and 24% in females. In both genders, BMI showed significant correlations (P<0.001 or P<0.01 or P<0.05) with SBP, DBP and HR after controlling for age and physical activity status, and SBP indicated the strongest association with BMI. Furthermore, the prevalence of hypertension and tachycardia increased with an increase in BMI level, whereas overweight/obese subjects indicated significantly higher risk of hypertension than did the non-overweight/obese controls. The present findings therefore strengthen the previously reported usefulness of BMI in predicting cardiovascular risks and add to our understanding of the early development of obesity-related cardiovascular abnormalities in young adults and the need to prevent obesity early in life and to avoid its unfavourable life-threatening consequences later in life.
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Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ebonyi State University, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. positivedoings@yahoo.com
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D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult