Gender differences in the association between body mass index and self-rated health among patients with hypertension: evidence from Rizhao City, China

Objective: This study is designed to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and self-related health (SRH), and to explore gender differences in BMI-SRH association among hypertensive patients further. Methods: The status of SRH in 1219 hypertensive patients over 18 years old was analyzed by the multi-item self-rated health measurement scale (SRHMS). Chi-square test and t-test were used to analyze BMI and SRHMS status of hypertensive patients, the logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between BMI and SRHMS of male and female separately after controlling for potential confounders, and to assess gender differences on the relationship between BMI and SRHMS. Results: The prevalence of underweight in hypertensive patients was 1.6%, normal weight was 33.0%, overweight was 45.9%, and obese was 19.5%. And the SRHMS of very good, good, fair, bad, and very bad were 20.2, 15.4, 29.1, 12.5, and 22.8%, respectively. After controlling potential confounders, we found that underweight, overweight and obese had a negative impact on female's SRHMS. Underweight had a negative impact on male, but obesity had a positive impact on male's SRHMS. Besides, this study did not find that overweight had a statistically significant effect on male SRHMS. Conclusion: In this cross-sectional study, we found a gender differences on association between BMI and SRHMS among hypertensive patients. Overweight and obesity had a negative impact on female's SRHMS after adjusting for other influential factors, but not for male. Gender differences should be considered when developing weight and hypertension management programs, especially in women.