Epidemiologic studies have confirmed that overweight and obesity increase the risk of hypertension. It is widely accepted that the conditions of overweight and obesity are major modifiable risk factors for hypertension. Thus, early and accurate identification of individuals who are at risk of hypertension is essential to reduce the burden of hypertension and associated cardiovascular disease. Hypertension contributes to cardiovascular disease and premature death.

Hypertension is a public health concern that has a high prevalence worldwide. Our results emphasize the importance of assessing age at onset of overweight/obesity to prevent hypertension. The sensitivity analyses results were similar after excluding the participants taking antihypertensive medications or those with new-onset obesity or using waist circumference to define overweight/obesity. The risk of hypertension increased linearly with a decrease in age at onset of overweight/obesity ( P < 0.001 for trend). Compared with the population without overweight/obesity, the RR (95% CI) of hypertension was 1.45 (1.28–1.65), 1.35 (1.21–1.52) and 1.16 (1.06–1.28) for overweight/obesity onset in participants aged < 38 years, 38–47 years, and ≥ 47 years, respectively. There were 2,284 new-onset overweight/obesity cases and 2,268 incident cases of hypertension during an average 13.8-year follow-up period. We used the covariate-adjusted Poisson model with robust standard error to calculate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) to examine the relationship between the age at onset of overweight/obesity and hypertension. The age of participants at the onset of overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥ 24 kg/m 2) and subsequent hypertension occurrence (blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medication) were identified.

MethodsĦ700 adults who participated in at least three survey waves and were free of overweight/obesity and hypertension on first survey were included using China Health and Nutrition Survey. We aimed to investigate the above-mentioned association in Chinese population. Data on the impact of age at onset of overweight/obesity on the risk of hypertension are limited.

Waves complete version 9