Correlation of body mass index with blood pressure: A gender based comparison in medical students.

Abstract

The Obesity and Hypertension are major risk factors of several life threatening diseases in human body. Objectives: To determine correlation coefficient of Body Mass Index with blood pressure: a gender based comparison in medical students. Study Design: Comparative Cross-sectional study in students. Setting: Physiology department of BMU Karachi. Period: Duration of this study was 6 months from February 2017 to August 2017. Material and Methods: A total of 500 students were enrolled in this study. The anthropometric measurement [height (m²) and weight (kg)] was recorded for calculation of the Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) was measured by using sphygmomanometer with stethoscope. SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: BMI overall in both genders were significantly (p<0.05) correlated in mean Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and mean Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP). Underweight and Normal weight were not correlated with both mean SBP and mean DBP in both genders. Overweight subjects were positively correlated with mean DBP in males and mean SBP in females (p<0.05). Obese students were not significantly (p>0.05) correlated with both mean SBP and mean DBP in males whereas, there were not enough observations to draw any meaningful conclusion in females. Conclusion: Overweight subjects were positively correlated (p<0.05) with mean DBP in males and mean SBP in females and overall BMI (mean SBP & mean DBP) in both genders.