Body fat composition as a marker for risk assessment in hypertension

Introduction: High blood pressure (BP) is one of the most common chronic medical problems prompting visits to primary health-care providers. The incidence of lifestyle diseases over the years has shown an upward trend in developing countries too, which is a cause of grave concern for the health care professionals. Research suggests that undesirable body composition has a major bearing on health, fitness and lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and diabetes. Study: The aim of the study was to compare the body composition of hypertensive patients with normal subjects using state of the art impedance based noninvasive body composition analyzer. The study evaluated the body composition of hypertensive patients and compared the same with subjects with normal BP. The study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital in Pune. Body composition variables considered for the study were anthropometry, percent body fat, lean body mass, fat distribution, and visceral fat composition. Results: The analysis of body fat included obesity degree, visceral fat area (VFA), body fat mass, and percent body fat. The mean body fat mass was found to be 21.7Kg. The mean percent Body Fat was 28.9%, which was much higher than the normal. Various parameters depicting body fat were compared. All of them, namely body fat mass, percent body fat, obesity degree, and VFA were found to be significantly higher in hypertensives as compared to the other group. Conclusion: Besides other anthropometric parameters, assessment of VFA may be included as an essential measure to assess and even predict hypertension. Those with high VFA must be monitored closely for developing hypertension and other lifestyle diseases