Publication: Impact of american heart association’s new hypertension guidelines (2017) on disease burden and association with obesity indices
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India
Abstract
Background: Hypertension (HTN) and obesity both are on rise in India as well as other countries. With introduction of new guidelines for HTN by American Heart Association (AHA) in 2017, the burden of disease is expected to be much higher than before. Aim of this study was to assess the impact of new AHA (2017) guidelines of hypertension classification on disease burden and its association with obesity. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional analytical study was conducted in total 210 subjects from Varanasi, India. Blood pressure and obesity indices (waist circumference, body mass index and waist-height ratio) were measured and analysed. Number of subjects having HTN according to American Heart Association’s (AHA) new (2017) and old [Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC) on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, 2003] guidelines were compared and association with obesity was estimated. Results: Total 149 (70.9%) subjects showed HTN according to new (AHA 2017) guidelines, compared to 81 (38.5%) hypertensive subjects according to old (JNC 7, 2003) guidelines. Only 27 subjects (12.8%) were diagnosed hypertension cases, while 122 (58%) subjects were having undiagnosed HTN. HTN was more common in males, compared to females, but obesity was more common in females compared to males. Obesity indices, age, height and body weight were significantly correlated with blood pressure. Increasing age, central obesity (high waist circumference and high waist-height ratio) and male gender was found to be significant risk factor for HTN. Conclusions: Burden of HTN is found to be much higher than before when new AHA (2017) HTN guidelines are applied for classification in Indian subjects. There is urgent and increased need to manage measures like lifestyle modifications, diet management and regular exercise to prevent obesity and HTN. © 2020, Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India. All rights reserved.