Blood pressure and blood sugar levels in overweight adolescents from an industrial town of Western India

High Body Mass Index (BMI) is the indicator of overweight. It was planned to compare blood pressure and blood sugar levels of adolescents with high BMI to that of adolescents with normal BMI of similar age group, to ascertain if BMI affects blood pressure and blood sugar level. One thousand adolescents in the age group of 10 to 18 years were screened for BMI. One hundred participants with normal BMI and 100 with high BMI were studied. BMI of all participants was calculated on the basis of their weight and height. They were divided into two groups- case and control. Waist hip ratio was calculated for all the participants. Their blood pressure and random blood sugar levels were compared. Approval of the Institutional ethics committee and written consent from the participants or their guardians were obtained. Statistical analysis was carried out by the SPSS software version 11. The blood pressure readings were higher in adolescents with high BMI compared to the ones in the adolescents with normal BMI (p<0.0001). Random blood sugar levels showed statistically considerable correlation (p<0.0001) between case group and control group. The comparison of WHR in the study group had statistically notable correlation (p<0.0001) between case group and control group. This study showed that hypertension and high blood sugar is related to the increase in the BMI. The study also revealed that High BMI, especially abdominal fat, is an important determinant of the blood sugar levels.