title: Prehypertension and obesity in middle-aged Korean men and women: the third Korea national health and nutrition examination survey (KNHANES III) study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate the association between obesity and prehypertension (preHT) after adjustment for socioeconomic position and health behavior factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample included 1973 Korean men and women, 45-64 years of age. Subjects were classified into three groups based on their baseline blood pressure: prehypertensive, hypertensive and normotensive. Men with a waist circumference ≥90 cm or women ≥80 cm were considered abdominally obese. Body mass index (BMI) obesity was defined as having a BMI ≥25. The prevalence of abdominal obesity and BMI obesity was calculated with age adjustment using a direct method. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of preHT in our study was 52.8%. We found that subjects with abdominal obesity were 2.06 times as likely to be prehypertensive as those without it and people with BMI obesity were 1.89 times as likely to be prehypertensive as those without it. Interestingly, men with BMI obesity had a higher preHT risk, while women with abdominal obesity had a higher preHT risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Statistical analyses of a community-based random sample of the Korean population indicate that obesity is associated with preHT in Korean middle-aged subjects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Imaging Center, Samsung Medical Center,  Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Kangnam-Gu, Seoul 135-710,  Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Shin Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Eun Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Sora
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sura
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Dae Eun
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Duk-Kyung
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000453:epidemiology; D058246:Prehypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference