The Novelty of using Obesity Indices as Blood Pressure Predictors.

Aims: To study the association between selected obesity indices, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

Methods: A cross-sectional study on 491 Jordanian adults (19-65 years old). The sociodemographic data, anthropometrics, and blood pressure were measured and recorded. Obesity indices (Conicity Index (CI), Abdominal volume index (AVI), Body Roundness Index (BRI), and Weight-adjusted-waist index (WWI)) were calculated using standard validated formulas.

Results: Based on age, the SBP had a significant moderate correlation with BRI and AVI in all age groups. In the age group 20 to 34 years, SBP had a significantly moderate correlation with CI, and DBP had a significantly moderate correlation with BRI and AVI. In the age group 35 to 44 years, DBP had a significantly moderate correlation with CI, BRI, WWI, and AVI. For the age group 45 to 65 years, the SBP had a significantly moderate correlation with all the obesity indexes, opposite to DBP. Obesity indices explain 23.6% to 24.1% of the changeability in SBP, and one unit increase in them resulted in an increase in SBP range from 0.61 ± 0.14 to 19.88 ± 4.45. For DBP, obesity indices explained 15.9% to 16.3% of the variability in DBP, and raising them by one unit led to an increase in the DBP range from 0.27 ± 0.11 to 10.08 ± 4.83.

Conclusion: All the studied obesity indices impacted SBP and DBP with the highest reported effect for AVI and BRI and a lower impact for WWI. The impact of obesity indices on DBP was affected by age group.