[Relationship of the blood pressure's level and skinfold thickness].

Objective: Hypertension is an important problem of the public health. Insufficient education of the people along with insufficient physical examination also plays a role in the poor success of the diagnosis and treatment of the hypertension. We investigated whether the skinfold thickness has an importance in the prediction of blood pressure or not.

Methods: In Aydin City area 110 women and 100 men selected by randomized sampling method were included into our study. Body mass index, blood pressure and skinfold thickness were measured according to the international guidelines.

Results: There was a moderate correlation between the skinfold and body mass index (r= 0.494, p=0.000) and there was a mild correlation between the body mass index and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (r=0.225, p=0.000 and r=0.300, p=0.000, respectively). There was no correlation between the skinfold thickness and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (r=0.058, p=0.400 and r=0.090, p=0.194, respectively).

Conclusion: It is concluded that body mass index, not skinfold thickness, can be used for the prediction of the blood pressure. Some other factors independent from the body mass index might be the determinants of the skinfold thickness.