Predictive performance of obesity indexes for the risk of high blood pressure in an adult population

Background and objectives

Comparisons of predictive performance of various anthropometric measures in high blood pressure have not been investigated. This study aimed at evaluating and comparing the predictive power of Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Adiposity index (BAI) and A Body Shape Index (ABSI) for predicting hypertension in adults.

Methods

The data of 277 subjects (109 men and 168 women) as a part of the major Lifestyle Promotion Project (LPP) conducted in the districts of Tabriz-East Azerbaijan-Iran were collected for this study. The weight, height, waist and hip circumferences were measured and BMI, BAI and ABSI were calculated. Blood pressure was measured twice, after 5 minutes of rest. The ANOVA and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) were used for statistical analysis.

Results

In all subjects, BMI (area under the curve (AUC): 0.65) predicted systolic blood pressure equally (P < 0.05). None of them had a significant prediction for diastolic blood pressure. By gender, considering P-value (P < 0.05), BMI predicted systolic in men (AUC: 0.71) and women (AUC: 0.61) and diastolic blood pressure only in men (AUC: 0.79). In addition systolic blood pressure in women was predicted by both BAI (AUC: 0.66) and ABSI (AUC: 0.67). Furthermore, BAI (AUC: 0.82) predicted diastolic blood pressure in men.

Conclusion

Although it was claimed that ABSI and BAI as the indexes of high waist circumference and body fat percent respectively, express the excess risk, based on our results, they are not better alternative than BMI in the clinical evaluation for screening for high blood pressure.