| Sumario: | Introduction: Recent findings show a high incidence of stroke among slum dwellers in Kolkata, India. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the association of different adiposity indices to blood pressure (BP) and hypertension (HT) among slum-dwelling Bengalee men in Kolkata. Methods: Measurements of height, weight, waist and hip-circumferences, biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) of 470 men aged 18-60 years were taken. Body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI), percent body fat, waist-height (WHtR) and waist-hip ratios (WHR) were computed. The effect of adiposity values on HT was estimated by logistic regressions, while partial correlations and linear regressions analyses of SBP and DBP with each index were performed. Results: BMI had the strongest correlation with blood pressure. The newly proposed index, BAI, had significant but considerably lower correlations with both BP compared to BMI and central adiposity. Both BMI and WHtR explained DBP with equal efficacy. Abdominal obesity, measured by WC, showed the strongest association with risk of HT, independent of age and BMI. The predictive effect of abdominal adiposity on blood pressure (SBP and DBP) appeared to be modified by age-BMI interaction. Conclusion: BAI showed no advantage over other adiposity measures in the prediction of hypertension among the men in this study. Waist circumference was the best obesity measure to predict hypertension and may be preferred to BMI considering its simplicity of measurement. The simple measure of WC might help in easy screening of hypertension among the poor people in resource constrained settings such as those in urban slums.
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