Relation of Obesity and Hypertension among Chinese Community in Melaka, Malaysia–A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The main cause of overweight and obesity is the imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. Obesity is the abnormal accumulation of ≥20% of body fat, over the individual's ideal body weight. Obesity is diagnosed by measuring the weight in relation to the height of an individual, thereby determining or calculating the body mass index (BMI).

Methodology: This study is a cross-sectional study with the secondary data analysis of the health records of the patients who had attended the medical camps conducted in Melaka, Malaysia. All of the attendee’s body weight and height were measured. The blood pressure measurement was done according to the Clinical Practice Guidelines, Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Hypertension is defined as if the participant has systolic blood pressure (SBP) of > 140 mmHg and/ or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 90 mmHg or more. Some peoples were taking treatment of Hypertension.

Results: The mean SBP among females was 11.64 units and mean DBP was 5.29 units lower compared to male participants. With an increase in age, SBP is expected to increase by .29 units, provided other variables remain unchanged. Regarding to BMI, every unit increase in BMI, SBP increased by 1.99 units and DBP increased by .86 units provided other variables remain unchanged.

Conclusion: This study found that BMI is associated with SBP and DBP, which suggested that interventions for bodyweight management might be beneficial for the management of hypertension.