ANTHROPOMETRIC VARIABLES AND BLOOD PRESSURE OF ADULTS IN UMUAHIA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA. ABIA STATE

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.4 Relationship between Anthropometric Variables and Blood Pressure of the Respondents 31

 

The body compositions are so essential to the effective functioning of the entire body system (Williams, 2001). The knowledge of anthropometric characteristics and their relationship with blood pressure is very useful both to individuals and society at large. A healthy people or society is a wealthy people and society Bose (2018).

According to Fosbol and Zerahn (2014), anthropometry is a strong tool in estimating body composition and specific distribution from models that utilize body circumferences and skinfolds. It explains the measurement of the dimensions of different parts of the human body (Oyewole and Oritogun, 2009). Williams (2001) observed that anthropometry involves the systematic measurement of the physical properties of the human body, primarily, dimensional descriptors of the body size and shape. The World Health Organization, as cited in Ghosh and Bose (2018), revealed that anthropometry is an inexpensive technique for assessing the size, proportions and compositions of the human body. While, Hastuti et al. (2018) proved that anthropometry is a practicable method to assess obesity and serve as a predictor of blood pressure. 

Blood pressure (BP) is one of the vital signs along with respiratory rate, heart rate, oxygen saturation and body temperature that is influenced by anthropometric characteristics of the human body (Cassani, Nobre, Pazin-Filho & Schmidt, 2009). Thus, elevated blood pressure is a well-recognized risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, like coronary artery disease, stroke and heart failure (Cassani et al., 2009). That is to say, heart failure, stroke, and coronary artery disease are some of the various cardiovascular diseases associated with high blood pressure (hypertension) (Cassani et al., 2009). Meanwhile, many people with hypertension (elevated blood pressure) are unaware of their condition, and among those with hypertension, treatment is infrequent and inadequate (Ghosh and Bose, 2018). Also, obesity (overweight) is an established health problem seriously affecting increasing blood pressure (Ghosh and Bose, 2018).The body mass index (BMI) is the method for assessing overweight and obesity, various measures of obesity, e.g. waist and hip circumferences, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, etc., have been employed to explore the relationship (Cassani et al., 2009). Blood pressure, however, is influenced by cardiac output, total peripheral resistance and arterial stiffness and varies depending on situation, emotional state, activity and relative health/disease conditions (MacGill, 2019). The blood pressure that is low is called hypotension and the blood pressure that is consistently high is hypertension (MacGill, 2019). From the above perspective, therefore, anthropometric variables, according to Barlow et al., (2012) are those structural compartments of the human body such as; body stature, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds (i.e. triceps, subscapular, biceps, iliac crest, supraspinale, abdominal, front thigh and medial calf), girths-circumferences (i.e. arm flexed and tensed, waist, gluteal and calf), and bone breadths (humerus and femur). From a different point of view, Majumder (2014) explained that anthropometric variables are divided into three clusters; circumferences, (transverse breadths), body length and body fat; indicates the skinfold thickness. Some anthropometric variables are significantly associated with cardiovascular diseases, and their risk factors include hypertension in adults, while the magnitude of the association varies among the population (Majumder, 2014). For example, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHR) and waist circumferences (WC) can predict blood pressure among adults (Majumder, 2014). The use of waist circumference allows screening people at risk of hypertension among adults (Huxley et al., 2010). In Chinese adults, the incidence rate of elevated blood pressure and the odd ratios for having elevated blood pressure increases with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (Huxley et al., 2010), whereas in Saudi, waist-to-height ratio (WHR) was the most important predictor for blood pressure level and hypertension disease (Gaziano, et al.,2010).   

Ghosh and Bose (2018) revealed that the determination of blood pressure is based on anthropometric measurements that allow a breakage of total body mass into lean body mass and total body fat. Lurbe et al. (2001), explained that several anthropometric variables including subscapular skinfold thickness (SSKF), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC) have shown connection with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. There is a positive correlation between blood pressure (BP) and body weight and body stature on adults (Ghosh and Bose, 2018). Appropriate anthropometric variables can be influenced by gender and physical activity (athletes and non-athletes) (Ghosh and Bose, 2018). Waist-to-hip ratio in male athletes and non-athletes had the most correlation with body fat percentage (Ghosh and Bose, 2018). Body mass index in female athletes and non-athletes had the most correlation with percentage of body fat (Ghosh and Bose, 2018).

Therefore, total body fat and body mass index (BMI) are said to be positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), whereas systolic blood pressure positively associates with lean mass, and weakly associated with trunk fat in adults (Oyewole and Oritogun, 2009).Body mass index (BMI) is used as an index of obesity and is a predictor of blood pressure in adults. The normal increase in BMI with growth and maturation  reflect gains in fat-free mass more than fat mass, and for any given BMI, there is a range of percentage body fat (Ghosh and Bose, 2018). Skinfold thickness relates to a high risk profile regarding coronary heart disease (CHD) and can be used to predict blood pressure (Ghosh and Bose, 2018).

 

This study is to examine the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria.

Understanding anthropometric variables is the fundamental in  assessing the entire human body compositions (Fosbol and Zerahn, 2014). This is because it helps in appreciating the relationship between body stature, body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio, skinfold thickness (i.e. triceps, subscapular, biceps, iliac crest, supraspinale, abdominal, front thigh and medial calf) and blood pressure in children and adults.

However, it is revealed that little is known about the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among Nigerian adult population. This study shows that there is limited information on the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State,Nigeria. 

   

Gelber et al. (2007), observed that obesity is known to increase the risk of hypertension. This study reveals that cardiovascular diseases, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, in relations to anthropometric factors which are  limited in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Nigeria (Adedoyin et al., 2008). There are regional differences due to socioeconomic and ethnical issues, that determines the  anthropometric methods that reveals the occurrence of elevated blood pressure

This study was carried out to examine the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria.

The general objective of this study is to examine the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North of Abia State, Nigeria. However, the specific objectives of the study are to:-

This study focuses on the relationship between anthropometric variables and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North of Abia State. This study will be  important and beneficial generally to every human that ascertain his/her total make-ups through the findings of the study. Specifically, the findings of this study will be significant to nutritionists and dieticians, health practitioners, members of the society and the society at large, researchers and scholars and to the body of knowledge.

For the nutritionists and dieticians, this study will contribute to  the knowledge of the effect of anthropometric characteristics on blood pressure in order to enable them function effectively in their professional services to individuals and organizations. 

For the health practitioners, the findings of this study will be useful by providing anthropometric information such as weight and BMI that may serve as medical history use for medications and for the knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and demographic data. It will help to reveal the level of overweight or obesity among the participants and thus provide information  for health practitioners. 

For the health care professionals, this findings would be useful to health care professionals who rely on body measurements to evaluate a patient’s overall health. For example, body mass index or BMI is a measurement of a person’s weight-to-height ratio. Health providers uses BMI to determine if a person is underweight, overweight or obese. Thus, this study will provide such measure.  

For members of the society and the society at large, this study will provide valuable insights on matters relating to how they can manage their body compositions so as to maintain normal blood pressure and stay healthy. Individuals will find the information in this study useful in knowing normal body mass index (BMI), weight and height and their effect on blood pressure (BP). This will foster a healthy society.

For the researchers and scholars, the findings of this study will be significant to researchers and scholars in the field of human nutrition and dietetics and related disciplines by adding to available reference materials on the subject of anthropometric measurements, blood pressure and nutrient status. This will further the knowledge of practitioners in these disciplines and enhance their research outputs.