ABSTRACT
Two hundred and forty four newly diagnosed hypertensives (cases) of age 40 years and above, attending the hypertensive clinic of the Government General Hospital during one year and three hundred and twelve normotensives (controls) belonging to the same age group and attending the outpatient department during the same period for other minor ailments formed the subjects for this case control study. There were 18 (7.4%) obese subjects among hypertensives and 6 (1.9%) among controls. In spite of these low proportions, there was a strong association between obesity and hypertension with an overall odds ratio of 4 and there appeared to be a significant increasing trend in the proportion of cases of hypertension (37%, 63%, 75%) observed according to the different grades (underweight or normal, overweight, obese) of nutrition.