Prevalence of (Pre)Hypertension and Correlations between Blood Pressures and Obesity in a Lean Population of Adults from the Old Eastern Region of Nigeria.

Hypertension is a prevalent disease globally and its prevalence is rising in sub-Saharan Africa. Urban-rural differences in the prevalence of hypertension are under-reported in Nigeria. Though hypertension is known to be related to obesity, the nature of the relationship is still unclear. This study sought to interrogate these and thus enrolled a total of 1,755 subjects (59% females) from five states in the old Eastern Region of Nigeria. Standard protocols and definitions were used to take measurements and diagnose relevant disease states. Appropriate statistical tools were used for data analysis. The results indicate that prehypertension was found in 40.0% of males and 27.5% of females while hypertension was found in 19.1% of males and 18.6% of females. The prevalence of (pre)hypertension among urban and rural males were similar (19%). However, prehypertension was more prevalent among urban females (29.1% Vs 24.3%); while hypertension was more prevalent among rural females (21.9% Vs 17.1%). SBP was found to be positively and significantly correlated with weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-height ratio and body mass index in the general population. When disaggregated based on blood pressure phenotypes, the correlations were found to be consistent mostly among normotensive subjects and among females. Among subjects with (pre)hypertension, the correlations varied in strength and direction depending on sex and measure of adiposity used. The urban-rural difference in the prevalence of hypertension and the relationship between hypertension and obesity are not linear.