Anupi Das, Jyotismita Deka
BACKGROUND: Third world is greatly facing the epidemic of cardiovascular disorders, so preventive strategies are essential to combat this epidemic. The period of transition from childhood to adulthood is hazardous for adolescent health, as they often develop behavioral problems and improper lifestyle changes, which has its reflection in the form of various diseases in adult life. AIM: To study the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure indices in young healthy adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 195 healthy subjects of both the sexes participated in the study. The study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Jorhat Medical College, Assam. The anthropometric parameters like height and weight were taken to evaluate the BMI and blood pressure was recorded by using a sphygmomanometer. In view of gender differences in autonomic regulation, data of male and female subjects were analyzed separately. Analysis of variance was used to compare differences between the three groups. Correlation between body mass index and blood pressure indices were statistically analyzed by using Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient denoted by ‘r’. RESULT: Majority of subjects (especially females) belonged to overweight category. SP, DP and MAP are found to be low in underweight, intermediate in normal weight and high in overweight subjects. This difference is attributable to difference in sympathetic tone in the three different groups. Significant correlation was found to be present between body mass index and blood pressure indices. Gender differences were also observed in their correlation. CONCLUSION: The result showed that BMI have a profound influence on the blood pressure of an individual. The observed gender differences in correlation between BMI and blood pressure may be due to difference in cardiovascular autonomic control and energy metabolism.
