Prehypertension in a Mexican population: influence of age, gender, and body fat.

We studied the association of age, gender, and distribution of body fat with prehypertension in a sample of Mexican adults. This study was performed in a sample of 900 adults (275 men and 625 women), with the median age of 42 years. Resting blood pressure was measured in duplicate, and prehypertension and hypertension were defined according to JNC 7 criteria. The prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in our population was 11.56% and 26.5%, respectively. The prevalence of prehypertension was significantly higher in men than in women. Prehypertension was associated with middle and old age (odds ratio [OR] = 2.6 and 2.4, respectively, P < .001), abdominal obesity (OR = 1.3, P = .008), upper quintiles of body mass index (OR = 2.05, P = .005), waist (OR = 1.97, P = .01) and hip (OR = 2.04, P = .005) circumferences, and body fat (OR = 2.37, P = .001). The main factors associated with the development of prehypertension are age, central obesity, and body fat.