Association between obesity phenotype and hypertension in middle-aged and elderly adults in China： a cohort study

Objective To investigate the association between obesity phenotype and the occurrence of hypertension in middle-aged and elderly adults in China.

Methods Data were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study （CHARLS） in 2011 and 2015. Participants who completed two visits with ≥45 years old age at baseline were enrolled. Obesity phenotype was defined as the following four groups according to weight and metabolic status：metabolically healthy non-overweight/obesity （MHNO）， metabolically healthy overweight/obesity （MHO）， metabolically abnormal non-overweight/obesity （MANO）， and metabolically abnormal overweight/obesity （MAO）. Cox proportional risk regression model was used to analyze the relationship between obesity phenotype and the incidence of hypertension.

Results A total of3 781 subjects with 1 775（46.95%） males and mean age of （57.76±8.57） years were included in this study. When the metabolically normal non-overweight/obese group （MHNO） was regarded as the reference group， the risk of developing hypertension was significantly increased（P<0.01） in MHO， MANO， and MAO with HRs of 1.35（1.11‒1.63）， 1.51（1.15‒1.97）， and 2.00（1.68‒2.38） respectively.

Conclusion Both MHO phenotype and MAO/MANO are significantly associated with the occurrence of hypertension in middle-aged and elderly adults.