Relación entre perímetro abdominal, nivel socioeconómico y presión arterial

aim: to correlate abdominal circumference (ac) and socio-economic status with blood pressure( bp) in an urban community of concepción, chile methods: ac was measured in 8472 subjects above 15years of age, stratified by age, gender and socio-economic status. bp was measured by standard procedures, with a repeat recording when the initial valué was > 140/90mmhg. bp was compared in quartiles of abdominal circumference and according to socio-economic status. pearson "r" was used to correlate bp and ac results: cut points for quartiles of ac were 78, 87, and 96 cm. prevalence of hypertension in high, médium and low socio-economic status was 17.9%, 19.5% and 24.5%, respectively mean systolic bp was 112 - 109 mmhg (males - females) in the first ac quartile, 118 - 118, 123-122 and 129-129 in the second, third and fourth quartiles, respectively. a significant correlation between ac and bp (systolic and diastolic) was observed in both genders (r 0.345 and 0.281 for males and females, respectively, p<0.00001). 22% of low socio-economic subjects belonged in the first ac quartile compared to 28.8% in the 4th quartile. in contrast 38.9% of high socio-economic subjects belonged in the first ac quartile while 15.5% did so in the 4th quartile (p<0001). conclusion: a positive correlation ofac and blood pressure was shown in both genders. a greater ac in low socio-economic subjects maybe related to a higher prevalence of hypertension in this group.