Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic TY - JOUR JO - Anthropologie (Brno) TI - ASSOCIATION OF BODY MASS INDEX WITH BLOOD PRESSURE AMONG ADULT LIMBU MEN IN DARJEELING, WEST BENGAL AU - Datta Banik S Y1 - 2022 VL - 60 IS - 3 PB - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic SN - 0323-1119 SP - 0 EP - 0 KW - Thinness – Overweight – Obesity – Hypertension N2 - N2 - Arterial hypertension is reported to be associated with high body mass index (BMI). However, it is also interesting to find the association between BMI-based undernutrition and blood pressure. Objective of the present study was to estimate prevalence of BMI-based thinness and excess weight (overweight and obesity) and their differential association with hypertension among adult men representing Limbu community in Darjeeling, West Bengal. A crosssectional study in Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India selected 897 adult men aged 20 to 59 years, representing Limbu community. Hypertension was estimated as: systolic/diastolic ≥140/90 mmHg. Binomial logistic regression (BLR) analysis was done to predict hypertension from thinness (BMI <18.50 kg/m2) and excess weight (BMI ≥25.0 kg/m2) after adjusting for age. Mean value of age of the participants (n = 897) was 37.28 years. Hypertensive men had higher body weight (84.83 kg) and BMI (20.70 kg/m2) compared to normotensive peers (80.10 kg and 19.09 kg/m2 respectively). Prevalence of thinness (11.59%), overweight (24.41%), and obesity (48.72%) were remarkable in the sample; 48.49% of the participants were hypertensive. BLR Model 1 has shown that 1-unit (kg/m2) increase in BMI had a chance of 68% rise in odds of being hypertension (Model 1). An adult man suffering from BMI-based thinness compared to normal weight was 2.8 times more likely to have hypertension (Model 2). Adult men with excess weight (n = 656) compared to the peers having normal BMI (n =137) were 3.45 times more likely to be hypertensive (Model 3). BMI-based malnutrition (undernutrition and excess weight) was observed to be a risk factor for hypertension that was higher in case of excess weight than thinness. ER -