[Hypertension and its association to anthropometric indexes in adults from a small city ln Brazil]

Estimate the prevalence of Arterial Hypertension (AH) and its association with Body Mass Index (BMI) and Abdominal Circumference (AC) in the adult population from the city of Firminópolis, in the state of Goiás, Brazil.

Descriptive, observational, cross sectional population-based study substantiated by a home survey of a simple random sample (> or = 18 years old). The study evaluated 1168 individuals. Standardized questionnaires. Measurements performed were Blood Pressure (BP) (hypertension: BP > or = 140 x 90 mmHg), weight, height and AC. Microsoft Office Access and Epi-info, 3.3.2 version were used for data storage and analysis, respectively.

There was a predominance of females (63.2%), mean age was 43.2 +/-14.9 years old. Prevalence of hypertension was 32.7%, with tendency to be higher among the male population (35.8%) when compared to the female (30.9%) (p=0.084). Association between AH and BMI was positive (p < 0.001), as well as between AC and age. Prevalence of overweight was 33.7% and obesity, 16.0%. Overweight was higher among the male population and obesity among the female population. Prevalence of increased as well as greatly increased AC in 51.9% of the studied population, with 28.6% among males and 65.5% among females.

A high prevalence of hypertension and a large number of individuals with BMI and AC above the ideal values were found.