Total and Abdominal Adiposity and Hypertension in Indigenous Women in Midwest Brazil.
BACKGROUND
Obesity is a major risk factor for hypertension, and abdominal fat in particular has been more strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases and its prevalence has increased in Brazilian indigenous populations.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hypertension among indigenous women and its association with total and abdominal obesity after adjustment for confounding factors.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study evaluated indigenous non-pregnant women aged 20-59 years living in two villages of the indigenous reserve of Dourados, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected by trained interviewers. Households were visited and were selected by simple random sampling using SPSS software version 21. The casting of lots was performed from a list of households located on a map of villages. To locate the selected households, a Global Positioning System device was used. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related variables and to obtain anthropometric data on weight, height, and waist circumference (WC). Blood pressure was measured twice during home visits.


RESULTS
Data were collected between June and October 2013 with 362 women. Most of them were aged <40 years (66.3%) and had low educational level (≤4 years of schooling, 82.0%), had overweight/obesity (74.0%), WC ≥80 cm (83.7%), and family history of hypertension (60.5%). The prevalence of hypertension was 42.0% (CI 95%: 37.0-47.2). In the multivariable analysis, respondents with WC 80-87 cm and ≥88 cm showed approximately 2 times higher prevalence rates of hypertension compared with those with WC <80 cm after adjusting for confounding factors. There was no association between body mass index (BMI) and hypertension in this study.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall prevalence of hypertension was high and associated only with abdominal adiposity but not with BMI.
College of Health Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Juliana Barros
JB
Almeida
College of Health Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Kauhana Oliveira
KO
Kian
College of Health Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Rosangela Costa
RC
Lima
College of Health Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Maria Cristina Corrêa de
MC
Souza
D000005:Abdomen / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D050154:Adiposity; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000208:ethnology*; D044382:Population Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult