The Association between Antihypertensive Medication Use and Blood Pressure Is Influenced by Obesity.

Introduction: One in three US adults is living with obesity or hypertension, and more than 75% of hypertensive individuals are using antihypertensive medications. Therefore, it is important to examine blood pressure (BP) differences in populations that are using these medications with differing obesity status.

Aim: We examined whether BP attained when using various antihypertensive medications varies amongst different body mass index (BMI) categories and whether antihypertensive medication use is associated with differences in other metabolic risk factors, independent of BMI.

Trends in medication use by body mass index and age between 1988 and 2012 in the United States.

Objective: Whether the increase in prescription medication use over time differs by age and obesity status is unclear.

Method: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1988 and 2012 was analyzed (n = 57,543).

Findings: Increased medication use over time was seen in older individuals of all body mass index (BMI) classes, with the most prominent increase in those with obesity (p<0.