BODY-COMPOSITION AND BLOOD-PRESSURE - WHICH INDEXES OF FATNESS SHOW THE STRONGEST CORRELATION

We studied the strength of association of different indices of body co mposition with blood pressure (BP) in 430 healthy persons (222 males, 208 females) living in southern Saudi Arabia. The percentage of fat, f at mass (FM), fat mass index (FMI) and body mass index (BMI), but not the fat free mass (FFM) were greater in women than in men. All these i ndices were significantly correlated with BP except height and triceps fold thickness. However, the highest correlation with BP existed with the body weight, followed by FFM and BMI and the lowest correlation e xisted with FM and fat free index (FFI). Thus, this study showed that weight-related body composition indices are better correlated with BP than height-related ones. This may be of importance when addressing BP relation with the degree of fatness.