The relationship between body mass index and blood pressure in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis: A reverse epidemiology in Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

In the general population, obesity is positively correlated with hypertension. On the other hand, there was hypothesis of "reverse epidemiology" in the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) of hemodialysis (HD) patients. This study aimed to investigate the "reverse epidemiology" of the relationship between the two variables in Jakarta, Indonesia. Cross-sectional study was conducted at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Koja District Hospital, and Cengkareng District Hospital in July 2018. Total sampling was performed with a total of 525 HD patients aged >18 years. All data were analyzed from the medical records. Of 525 patients, 27.4% were obese. The post hoc analyses showed that obese patients had significantly lower post-HD systolic BP (P = 0.006) and diastolic BP (P = 0.004) than the normal-weight patients. The Chi-square analyses showed that the overweight group [odds ratio (OR) = 0.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31-0.87; P = 0.011] and the obese group (OR = 0. 63; 95% CI 0.400.97; P= 0.038) had significant protective effect (OR <1) on the post-HD hypertension. Being obese was a strong predictor for reduced BP (coefficient β = -0.02; P = 0.031). BMI is inversely associated with BP in patients undergoing chronic HD.