Association of Body Mass Index with Blood Pressure in the Elderly

Systolic and diastolic blood pressures have been shown to correlate with increased cardiovascular mortality and stroke in elderly individuals. Obesity has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and an indirect risk factor because of its effect on hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidaemia. The knowledge of the effect of obesity on hypertension is very important as it is a modifiable risk factor. Studies have shown that the relation between BMI and blood pressure was stronger in females than males. The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of BMI and gender on systolic and diastolic blood pressures in elderly individuals. The study was done at MS Ramaiah Medical Teaching Hospital, Bangalore. All patients who attended the geriatric camp in the study centre and were above 65 years were included in the study. Those who had secondary risk factors for hypertension and other confounding factors were excluded from the study. The study subjects were divided into three groups based on their body mass index (BMI). A total of 102 patients were included in the study. Our study showed a strong correlation between systolic blood pressures and BMI (p textless 0.02). However, the influence of sex on hypertension was statistically not significant for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p textgreater 0.05) in our study. Similar results have been obtained in various studies worldwide.