Association Between Adiposity Indices and Blood Pressure is Stronger in Sarcopenic Obese Women

Anthropometric indices are useful to identify excess weight and poor health outcomes. Previous research showed that some indices are correlated to blood pressure (BP) among adults. Yet, these associations are poorly characterized in women with sarcopenic obesity (SO). SO is characterized as the combination of sarcopenia and obesity and has been examined as an emerging cause of disorders and frailty.

The study aims to examine the association between anthropometric indices and BP in community-dwelling women with and without SO.

118 women (46.3 ± 15.6 years; 1.56 ± .07m; 66.9 ± 12.5kg) underwent BP and anthropometric assessments. Body weight, height, as well as waist (WC) and hip circumference were measured. Body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI), waist-to-hip (WHR) and waist-toheight (WHtR) ratio were calculated. SO was identified based on median values of percent body fat and muscle mass. Partial correlation was used to assess the association between adiposity indices and BP adopting age, presence of hypertension and use of antihypertensive medication as controlling variables. The significance level was set at P ≤ .05.

systolic BP was significantly higher in subjects with SO (126.4 ± 14.1 vs 121.0 ± 11.6mmHg, P = .01). Correlations between anthropometric indices and systolic BP were generally higher in women with SO, reaching statistical significance for WC (r = .39, P < .05) and WHtR (r = .30, P < .05) when age was the controlling variable.

The association of adiposity indices and BP is stronger in subjects with SO when compared to those without SO.