High Prevalence of Prehypertension Is Associated with the Increased Body Mass Index in Community-Dwelling Japanese

High Prevalence of Prehypertension Is Associated with the Increased Body Mass Index in Community-Dwelling Japanese

RYUICHI KAWAMOTO,¹ KATSUHIKO KOHARA,² YASUHARU TABARA² and TETSURO MIKI²

¹The Department of Internal Medicine, Nomura Municipal Hospital, Ehime, Japan
²The Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ehime University School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan

Hypertension and obesity are likely the most common disease in Japan. It has been reported that subjects with prehypertension (systolic blood pressure [SBP] 120-139 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure [DBP] 80-89 mmHg) have also an increased risk of cardiovascular disease; however, only limited data are available on the prevalence of prehypertension and its association with body weight. We performed a cross-sectional study to examine whether the status of body weight was associated with prehypertension. Study participants aged 19 to 90 years [1,207 men aged 60 ± 15 (mean ± standard deviation) years and 1,634 women aged 63 ± 12 years] were randomly recruited for a survey at the community-based annual medical check-up. The prevalence of prehypertension was 27.3% in men and 23.9% in women. The levels of SBP and DBP increased, as body mass index (BMI) increased in both genders. In a multivariate-adjusted model, increasing BMI categories were positively associated with prehypertension. Especially in men, compared to participants with BMI of < 21.0 kg/m² (referent), the multivariate-odds ratio (95% CI) of prehypertension was 1.90 (1.17-3.09) in the 21.0-23.4 kg/m² group, 2.38 (1.31-4.34) in the 23.5-24.9 kg/m² group, and 3.79 (2.03-7.09) in the 25.0 kg/m² group. In conclusion, even subjects with mildly increased BMI (21.0-24.9 kg/m²) had an increased risk of prehypertension in community-dwelling persons. It is time to pay more attention to excess bodyweight in preventing high blood pressure.

keywords —— risk factor; body mass index; prehypertension; hypertension; community-dwelling persons.

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 216, 353-361

Correspondence: Ryuichi Kawamoto, Department of Internal Medicine, Seiyo Municipal Nomura Hospital, 9-53 Nomura, Nomura-cho, Seiyo-city, Ehime 797-1212, Japan.

e-mail: rykawamo@ehime.med.or.jp