Influence of Changes in Obesity Indicators on the Risk of Hypertension: A Cohort Study in Southern China

Abstract

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The objective of this study was to demonstrate the association between changes in different obesity indicators and the risk of incident hypertension by the age-group among community-dwelling residents in southern China. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A total of 6,959 non-hypertensive participants aged ≥18 years old were enrolled in this cohort study and completed questionnaire interviews and anthropometric measurements at baseline (2010) and follow-up (2017). A time-dependent covariate Cox proportional hazard model considered the changes in obesity indicators during the follow-up period and calculated the hazard ratios (HRs) to analyze the risk of incident hypertension according to different obesity indicators. <b><i>Results:</i></b> During a mean follow-up of 7.1 years, 1,904 participants were newly diagnosed with hypertension. The body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were significantly positively associated with an increased future risk of incident hypertension, and BMI was the best predictive indicator of hypertension (obesity in men: HR = 2.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.20–3.20; obesity in women: HR = 2.80, 95% CI = 2.27–3.45). Compared with the middle-aged and older group, the risk of incident hypertension was highest in the younger group which had the highest baseline obesity indicators. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Changes in obesity indicators were significantly associated with the risk of incident hypertension in all age-groups, and the risk of future incident hypertension increased with the increase in baseline obesity indicators.