Eur J Anat, 19 (3): 269-275 (2015)

The best anthropometric index to access the risk of hypertension in the population of Kavre district, Nepal

Janak R. Awasthi¹, Bipashwi N. Uprety¹, Shashi L. Mallik¹, Pankaj Pant²

¹Department of Physiology, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal, ²Department of Internal medicine, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal

ABSTRACT The relation of anthropometric factors with blood pressure is important for determining cardiovascular risk, as previous studies have shown positive association between these variables. But there is no common opinion about the effectiveness of which of the anthropometric tools indicating obesity are the most important to follow up. The present study was carried out to examine this relationship, and to find the most correlated anthropometric index in a Nepalese population. A cross-sectional descriptive study including 238 subjects (75.63%male and 24.37% female, aged 18-87 years old) was conducted among subjects from Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel Municipality, Banepa Municipality and Panauti Municipality of Kavre District, Nepal. Age, weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and blood pressure of the subjects were measured. Body mass index and waist hip ratio was calculated. Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 120.2±16.1 and 81.9±11.3 mmHg respectively. In terms of body mass index, 4.2% of the subjects were obese (>29.9 kg/m2). As for waist hip ratio and waist circumference cut-off points, 57.57% and 21.84% subjects had cardiovascular risk. Significant positive correlation of obesity indicators with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed. For systolic blood pressure, the correlation coefficient was 0.42 with body mass index, 0.44 with waist circumference, and 0.48 with waist hip ratio. For diastolic blood pressure, it was 0.41 with body mass index, 0.45 with waist circumference, and 0.53 with waist hip ratio. Using the Pearson correlation test, waist hip ratio was found to be the most correlated factor for blood pressure among the total population. Specifically, waist hip ratio for male population and waist circumference for female population were the most correlated indices. Therefore, these indices can be considered and utilized to assess risk for elevated blood pressure condition and cardiovascular disease in our study population.

Keywords: Anthropometry, Body mass index, Waist hip ratio, Waist circumference, Blood pressure, Hypertension, Obesity, Cardiovascular disease, Nepal