Blood pressure in different levels of BMI.

Body mass index (BMI) is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight. In recent years, non-communicable diseases (NCD) like obesity, hypertension and Type-2 diabetes are on the increase in the developed and developing nations. This Analytical cross sectional study was done to appraise the effect of overweight and obesity in development of high blood pressure. This study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from 1st July 2011 to 30th June 2012 on 180 equally divided male and female persons between the ages of 25 to 55 years. Non probability purposive type of sampling technique was used for selecting the study subjects. Measurement of body mass index and blood pressure were done as per procedure. Data were expressed as mean±SE and statistical significance of difference among the groups were calculated by unpaired student's 't' test and Pearson's correlation coefficient tests were done as applicable. The mean±SE of Systolic blood pressure were significant at 1% level for both overweight and obese groups of BMI (p<0.001). The mean±SE of Diastolic blood pressure were significant at 1% level for overweight group (p<0.009) and 5% level for obese group (p<0.02). Systolic blood pressure and Diastolic blood pressure showed positive correlation with BMI where in case of Systolic blood pressure it was stronger. This study revealed that overweight and obese persons showed higher level of blood pressure.