ABSTRACT

The study was aimed at assessing the relationship between obesity and blood pressure among adults in Umuahia North Local Government Area, Abia state. The study was a cross-sectional survey comprising of 439 randomly selected respondents. A total of 439 adults were selected from urban communities in Umuahia North LGA. A structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics. Anthropometric measurement (Height, Weight, Waist circumference and Hip circumference)was carried out in all standard procedure and blood pressure was measured using electronic sphygmomanometer. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. A P value of less than 0.05 was accepted as statistics for significance. More than half of the participants (54.9% ) were females, while 45.1% were males. About 21.2% of the males had stage 1 hypertension, while,17.0% females had stage 1 hypertension. The prevalence of overweight was 29..4% of the sample population while obesity was 21.2% . There was a significant relationship between BMI and systolic pressure (r = 0.118; p = 0.014). The findings from this study show that hypertension increase with an increasing BMI. Educational programs on dangers of hypertension and obesity to health are recommended.