prevalence of high blood pressure and its relationship with anthropometric indicators; a population based study in pars province, IR Iran

ABSTRACT

The burden of non-communicable diseases is rising globally. The present study was carried out to examine the relationship between different anthropometric indices and blood pressure in the Iranian population. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 3916 subjects including 1976 males and 1940 females, aged 15-64 years from a healthy population in Shiraz, IR Iran. Anthropometric variables of each person including weight, height, waist circumference [WC], waist to height ratio [WHR] and body mass index [BMI] were calculated along with measuring systolic and diastolic blood pressures [BP]. The relationship between blood pressure and different anthropometric variables was determined in both genders. The mean +/- SD systolic blood pressures were 123.9 +/- 20.0 and 121.2 +/- 17.7 mmHg while the mean diastolic blood pressures were 78.3 +/- 11.9 and 77.4 +/- 12.9 mmHg in men and women respectively [P<0.001]. The prevalence of hypertension in men [23.8%] was significantly more than that of women [21.1%]. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased with age and BMI in both genders. Anthropometric indices showed a positive association with systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The BMI and WC showed a strong association with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The suggested lower cut-off values of the anthropometric indicators will cover maximum of the population with higher odds of having hypertension and may help reduce the levels of populations mean blood pressure