Influence of height on blood pressure and hypertension among Bangladeshi adults

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have reported that height is inversely associated with blood pressure and hypertension. However, there is lack of comprehensive findings from Bangladesh in this regard. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the association between height and blood pressure in a Bangladeshi population. SETTING: Rural and urban sites from seven divisions of Bangladesh. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 7932 males and females (aged ≥35 years) evaluated in the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey. Participants (n = 7647) who had complete height, weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) measurements and non-missing medication history, were included in the analysis. METHODS: Hypertension was defined as an SBP over 140 mmHg or/and a DBP over 90 mmHg, or current use of antihypertensive medication. Difference between SBP and DBP was calculated to get pulse pressure (PP). Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were used. RESULTS: PP decreased linearly with increasing height among males (-0.11, P < 0.05) and females (-0.19, P < 0.05) after adjusting for age, BMI, living region, type of occupation, wealth index, and highest level of education. SBP decreased linearly with increasing height among only females (-0.14, P < 0.05), after adjusting for age, BMI, living region, type of occupation, wealth index, and highest level of education. No association was found between quartiles of height and prevalence of hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Height was found to be inversely associated with pulse pressure in both sexes. Studies with longitudinal design are needed to investigate the association between shortness with blood pressure and hypertension.