Body Build and Hypertension

Thus far there has been no conclusive proof in the medical literature that there is a correlation between body build and blood pressure. There are many authors who have stated with considerable positiveness that there is no relation. Bauer1and Braun2observed no characteristic build among hypertensive persons, and Hay3stated that both thin persons and those of the sthenic habitus are susceptible to hypertension. Alvarez and Stanley4stated: "There is no correlation with height or with the degree of stockiness or ranginess. Contrary, then, to the general impression, thick-set, stocky men are apparently no more likely to develop hypertension than are their tall, thin, asthenic-looking brethren." Those who have contended that there is a correlation between body build and blood pressure have arrived at their conclusions through an impression of total weight rather than through one of the size of the skeletal frame, and generally without sufficient anthropometric and