STUDY OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BODY MASS INDEX AND HYPERTENSION IN ELDERLY IN A RURAL TEACHING HOSPITAL.
Juhi Gupta, *Sunil Kumar, Sachin Agrawal.
ABSTRACT
Background: Increased blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) has a direct correlation with increased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity, especially in elderly individuals. More BMI has been shown to be an independent risk factor because of its effect on hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidaemia. We have done this study to assess the effect of BMI on systolic and diastolic blood pressures in elderly individuals. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study carried out in all patients above 60 years who attended the geriatric camp for 2 months in the study centre. The Chi?square test was applied to correlate systolic and diastolic blood pressure with BMI. Result and Observation: A total of 100 patients were included in the study. Our study showed a strong correlation between systolic blood pressures and BMI. However, the influence of sex on hypertension was statistically not significant for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p > 0.05) in our study. Conclusion: The association between BMI and both systolic and diastolic pressures remained highly statistically significant in these analyses. These results show that as BMI increases blood pressure rises even in old age and suggest that it may be possible to modify rates of hypertension by changes in body weight.
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