Association between muscle mass and a single measurement of hypertension in community-dwelling adults in Korea

Abstract

Hypertension is a well-known global and social health problem affecting all-cause mortality significantly. It is strongly associated with the risk of heart attack, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke and liver disease. The relationship between muscle mass and a diagnosis of hypertension in a sample of Korean adults (N=225)was investigated. The participants included adults aged >20 years who visited the S-gu Public Health Centre, Seoul, Korea for a medical check-up in 2011. The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure VII defined hypertension as blood pressure >140/90 mmHg. The prevalence of hypertension was 28.4% in the present study. The association between muscle mass quartiles was determined using bioelectrical impedance analysis. The presence of hypertension was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for BMI and self-reported personal demographic and lifestyle information. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for each of the quartiles compared to the very low muscle mass quartile were:0.617 (0.190–2.004, p=0.422) for low muscle mass;2.564 (0.873–7.531, p=0.087) for high muscle mass; and 2.975 (0.893–9.907, p=0.076) for very high muscle mass. These results indicated that muscle mass was not associated with a single measurement of hypertension in this sample.