Does increased body mass index or obesity increase blood pressure?
Increased body weight and obesity are strongly associated with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
verweight is a body mass index between 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m2 (1). Obesity is a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher (1). Obesity and obesity are risk factors for hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus (2). The Framingham Study demonstrated that obesity was about twice as prevalent in obese men and in obese women as in men and in women with a normal Metropolitan relative weight (3). The Framingham Study also demonstrated that both men and women had an increase in blood pressure with increased overweight (4). Persons in the highest body mass index quartile had a 16 mmHg higher systolic blood pressure and a 9 mmHg higher diastolic blood pressure than persons in the lowest body mass index quartile (4). In this study, the systolic blood pressure increased 4 mmHg for each 4.5 kg of increased weight (4). Insurance industry data have also shown a positive relationship between overweight or obesity with hypertension (5).
Wilbert S. Aronow (Tue,) studied this question.