The effect of the body mass index and the anxiety situation on blood pressure in patients applied to Family Medicine outpatient clinic in A University Hospital

Introduction and Aim: Hypertension is a global public health problem that is the leading cause of preventable death in the world and a disease which can cause many organs and tissue damage and morbidity and mortality if not controlled or treated effectively. The effects of anxiety symptoms on the development of hypertension have been evaluated in many studies and different results have been obtained. The increase in body mass index (BMI) is also an important risk factor for hypertension. This study was carried out with the aim to evaluate the effect of body mass index and anxiety on blood pressure and the factors affecting blood pressure in patients who applied to outpatient clinic of family medicine at Dicle University Faculty of Medicine. Material and Methods: 403 patients aged between 18- 65 years, who applied to outpatient clinic of family medicine at Dicle University Faculty of Medicine between 01.04.2018 and 01.07.2018, were included in this cross-sectional study. The patients' body mass index and anxiety scores from Beck anxiety scale were calculated and measurements of arterial blood pressure were performed. The relationship between BMI, Beck anxiety scores and blood pressure of patients were investigated. The analyis of the data was carried out by using SPSS 24 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Results: Of the participants, 50.1% were male, 49.9% were female and the average age was 34.11±11.16 in years. Of the patients, the mean BMI as 25.52±5.03 kg/m², the mean anxiety score as 7.40±9.21 and the arterial blood pressures as 117.80±17.21/75.54±10.47 mmHg were measured. There was a significant difference between arterial blood pressures according to gender. The systolic and diastolic blood pressures were higher in males. While there was a significant relationship between educational status and diastolic blood pressure, there was not any significant relationship either between educational status and systolic blood pressure or between smoking, family history of hypertension and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. It was found that arterial blood pressure raised significantly as the BMI group increased. While the relationship between the severity of anxiety and systolic blood pressure was significant, its relationship with diastolic blood pressure was not significant. There was a positive correlation between BMI, anxiety score and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it was found that the increase in BMI and Beck anxiety scores may be related with increase in arterial blood pressure. This result showed that common health problems in primary care such as anxiety, obesity and hypertension may be associated with each other and it can be effectively fought against hypertension with the perspective of family medicine and biopsychosocial approach. KEYWORDS: Anxiety, hypertension, blood pressure, obesity, body mass index