Anthropometric Features of Cardiovascular Disease Subjects Attending Federal Teaching Hospital Owerri, Nigeria: A Case–Control Study

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death globally. CVD is strongly influenced by modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors, including elevated blood pressure and excess adiposity. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to compare selected clinical and anthropometric markers between CVD patients and apparently healthy controls. Materials and Methods: The study included 200 participants, comprising 100 CVD subjects and 100 controls attending Federal Teaching Hospital, Owerri. The variables measured were systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC). Results were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and compared between groups using an independent-samples t-test when the assumptions for parametric analysis were satisfied. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: There was no significant difference in age between the groups (p = 0.395). However, CVD patients had significantly higher SBP (159.03 ± 11.79 mmHg versus 123.79 ± 20.36 mmHg), DBP (91.01 ± 7.50 mmHg versus 75.68 ± 3.42 mmHg), BMI (31.04 ± 2.50 kg/m2 versus 23.28 ± 1.02 kg/m2), and WC (106.03 ± 6.94 cm versus 84.81 ± 3.01 cm) than controls (p = 0.001 for each comparison). CVD patients therefore demonstrated higher blood pressure, BMI, and waist circumference than apparently healthy subjects. Conclusion: SBP, DBP, BMI, and WC were significantly higher in CVD subjects than in controls. Pearson correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations among age, SBP, DBP, BMI, and waist circumference in CVD subjects. These findings emphasise the importance of blood pressure and adiposity assessment in cardiovascular risk evaluation. Further studies using multivariable analyses are warranted to determine the independent contribution of these factors to CVD.