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Epidemiology of obesity and hypertension and related risk factors in Uzbekistan

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 60, pages 1355–1366 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

This study examined the prevalence of obesity and hypertension and associated behavioral risk factors in adult men and women in Uzbekistan. The study also examined the association between obesity and hypertension.

Method:

The analysis used data from the 2002 Uzbekistan Health Examination Survey, which included a nationally representative sample of 2333 men aged 15–59 years and 5463 women aged 15–49 years. The survey measured height, weight and blood pressure and included questions on physical activity, dietary habits, tobacco smoking, alcohol use and other characteristics. The analysis was conducted using binary and multinomial logistic regression methods, separately for men and women.

Results:

Eating animal source protein and tobacco smoking in the past were positively associated with obesity, but there were no consistent associations with other dietary indicators, physical activity level or alcohol use. Obese men and women were about three times as likely to suffer from hypertension as those with a normal BMI (odds ratio (OR)=3.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.67–5.44; P<0.001 for men and OR=2.82; 95% CI: 2.05–3.86; P<0.001 for women), independent of physical activity level, dietary habits, tobacco smoking and other factors. For men, the risk of hypertension was strongly positively associated with BMI only at BMI levels above 25 kg/m2, but for women a positive relationship was observed at all BMI levels.

Conclusion:

The study found a strong positive association between obesity and hypertension in adult men and women in Uzbekistan. The shape of the relationship between BMI and hypertension is different for women than for men, requiring further research to explore this relationship.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the United States Agency for International Development through the MEASURE DHS project (# GPO-C-00-03-00002-00). Views presented in the paper do not represent the views of USAID or the organizations to which the authors belong. The authors thank Shane Khan for research assistance. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 25th IUSSP International Population Conference in Tours, France during July 18–23, 2005.

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  1. ORC Macro, Calverton, MD, USA

    V Mishra, F Arnold, G Semenov, R Hong & A Mukuria

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  1. V Mishra
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Correspondence to V Mishra.

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Guarantor: V Mishra.

Contributors: VM planned the analysis, conducted literature review and drafted the paper. RH carried out data handling and analysis. FA, GS and AM contributed to the interpretation of results and revision of the paper.

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Mishra, V., Arnold, F., Semenov, G. et al. Epidemiology of obesity and hypertension and related risk factors in Uzbekistan. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 1355–1366 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602465

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