Hypertension places an excessive financial burden on populations and health systems, consuming scarce resources. Population based preventive approaches are, thus central for the management of elevated blood pressure in developing countries. This cross sectional study was carried out in the Buruku Local Government of Benue State in the middle belt of Nigeria. The body weight, height and blood pressure of 423 subjects were determined. BMI was calculated as weight divided by height squared and hypertension was defined using the JNC VII criteria. The male subjects were significantly taller, heavier and also had significantly higher SBP and DBP than the female subjects. The prevalence of hypertension was higher in the male than the female subjects. There was a positive correlation between the BMI and SBP and DBP. Basic measurement of weight and height to determine the BMI as a routine assessment during clinic visitation with appropriate lifestyle modification would help in controlling hypertension as well as reduce its prevalence and its subsequent financial burden.

Background Obesity is becoming a global epidemic and the prevalence is increasing not only in the developed countries but also in developing countries like Nigeria. The main adverse consequences are cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and several cancers. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a cardiovascular consequence of obesity and it is an independent risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction and sudden death. It is therefore necessary to know to what extent obesity is responsible for the development of LVH and what measures of obesity are implicated. Method: A total number of two hundred and thirty (230) subjects were recruited for the study. One hundred and fifty (150) were obese while eighty (80) were non obese controls. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were measured and calculated as the case may be. Based on their BMI, the subjects were classified as obese and non obese. Blood pressure measurements on at least two occasions and fasting plasma glucose estimates were done to identify normotensive, normoglycemic subjects who were included in the study. Echocardiography was done on all subjects after physical examination. The Left Ventricular Mass was calculated using Devereux modified ASE cube formula and this was indexed to height 2 and to body surface area.Results BMI and WC were strongly correlated with all echocardiographic parameters with BMI having the strongest correlation with LVM/H 2 (r=0.708, p<0.001) in males and (r=0.799,p<0.001) in females. This was followed by WC (r=0.678, p<0.001) in males and (r=0.646,p<0.001) in females. WHR was weakly correlated with LVM/H 2 (r=0.213, P=0.040) in males and (r=0.218, p=0.011) in females.Conclusion and RecommendationBody mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) had stronger correlations with echocardiographic determinants of left ventricular hypertrophy compared to Waist hip ratio (WHR) in this study. BMI and WC should therefore be the preferred measures of obesity for the assessment of the impact of obesity on left ventricular mass and hypertrophy.