PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AND HIGH LEVEL OF CHOLESTEROL IN HYPERTENSION: Analysis of Data from the University College Hospital , Ibadan

This study was undertaken to determine what proportion of patients with hypertension are obese and or have elevated serum cholesterol. The data of two hundred and fifty patients who attended the outpatient clinics of the University College Hospital, Ibadan from January 1998 to December 2001 were analysed. Almost half of the subjects (48.8%) had mild, 40.8% moderate, and 8.8% severe hypertension. While mild hypertension was more in the females (55.4%), moderate and severe hypertension was more among males. Among the subjects that were overweight (BMI>25<30), 44% were males and 56% were females. There were more obese (BMI>30) among the females (63.6%) than the males (36.4%). Only 166 of the subjects had serum cholesterol analysis, and only 9.6% had a hyper-cholesterol (>240mg/dl) level. Obesity and hyper-cholesterol and hypertension are known risk factors in cardiovascular diseases. Since weight reduction has been noted to reduce severity of hypertension, this should be a cost effective intervention in both the control of hypertension and lowering the risk of coronary heart diseases.