title: General and central obesity, combined oral contraceptive use and hypertension in Chinese women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asians have different body fat distributions and disease characteristics compared with Caucasians. The purpose of this study was to evaluate general and central obesity, combined oral contraceptive (COC) use, and their joint effects on the risk of hypertension in Chinese women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study including 1,760 women (878 hypertensive cases and 882 normotensive controls) was conducted in China. Body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, serum lipids, and apolipoproteins were measured. History of contraceptive use and relevant factors were investigated. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated for hypertension-related factors under unconditional logistic regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study showed that increased body mass index (BMI), increased WC, and COC use were risk factors for hypertension with an OR (95% CI) of 2.19 (1.69-2.83), 1.46 (1.13-1.88), and 1.26 (1.02-1.56), respectively. Compared with WC, BMI was more strongly associated with hypertension risk (OR 3.40, 95% CI 2.28-5.05, for highest vs. lowest quartile) and was a better predictor for blood pressure. COC users had a 1.39-fold (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.14-1.69) increased risk compared with the nonusers, while stopping COC was associated with a 36% reduced risk (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.42-0.98). The risk increased dramatically in combination of COC use with a BMI ≥28 kg/m(2) or WC ≥90 cm (OR 8.02, 95% CI 5.05-12.74; OR 5.76, 95% CI 3.65-9.12, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  General and central obesity, COC use, and their joint effects significantly increased the risk of hypertension in Chinese women.
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
authors: Chun
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Jianling
authors: J
authors: Bai
authors: Weichong
authors: W
authors: Qian
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zhou
authors: Zhiming
authors: Z
authors: Sun
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Ba
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wei
authors: Huiqiao
authors: H
authors: Li
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Sun
mesh_terms: D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000097:blood; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D001053:Apolipoproteins; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins