Link between obesity, hypertension questioned

The association between body mass index (BMI) and high blood pressure has decreased since 1989, researchers say.

The finding suggests that obesity may not have as much of an impact on heart-related disease as previously thought.

"High blood pressure is a leading cause of the global burden of disease," Dr. Pascal Bovet of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and colleagues write in the medical journal Epidemiology. "The prevalence of hypertension, and of several other conditions [including diabetes], is considered to be linked to the worldwide epidemic of obesity."

The researchers examined trends in blood pressure and BMI over a 15-year interval in the Seychelles.

There was a slight decrease in average blood pressure between 1989 and 2004 in both men and women, and the prevalence of high blood pressure changed little during this time.

On the other hand, the percentage of people who were overweight increased from 39 per cent to 60 per cent.

The association between obesity and hypertension decreased "substantially and consistently," Bovet's team writes, and "the impact of the overweight epidemic on cardiovascular disease might be less important than predicted."
© The Vancouver Province 2007

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