Anthropometric Assessment of Obesity and Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Hypertension attending the Family Medicine Clinics of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua Nigeria.

Introduction: Obesity can be a major problem due to its potential to cause a number of health issues, including high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the association between obesity as assessed by body mass index (BMI), waist hip ratio (WHR) and waist height ratio (WHtR) and blood pressure control among patients with hypertension attending the Family Medicine Clinics of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, a semi-urban community in Edo State, southern Nigeria. Methods This was a cross-sectional study among 250 patients with hypertension attending the Family clinics of Irrua specialist Teaching hospital, aged 18 to 65 years. The anthropometric indices of consenting participants, including BMI, WHR, and WHtR were evaluated and blood pressure determined. Data was analysed using statistical package of Social Sciences version 24.0. Result Study participants had a mean age of 51.5 ± 10.0 years, with a mean BMI of 28.60 ± 5.71kg/m 2 . The median and interquartile range of the waist hip ratio and waist height ratio were 1.02 (1.01, 1.03) and 0.61 (0.58, 0.66) respectively. The proportion of obese participants, defined by WHtR, with uncontrolled BP was significantly higher than that for those with controlled BP (63.9% vs 47.5%; p = 0.024). Upon adjusting for sociodemographic variables, participants who were obese based on WHtR had 2.71 times the odds of having uncontrolled blood pressure compared to those who were not obese. This finding was statistically significant. (aOR = 2.71; 95% CI = 1.37–5.38; p = 0.004). Conclusion Anthropometric indices remain valuable predictors of blood pressure control. The WHtR, a measure of central obesity, compared to the BMI, was significantly associated with poor blood pressure control.