A Comparative Study of Pre and Post-prandial BP Recordings in Obese and Non Obese Young Adults.

Obesity is associated with varied combinations of abnormalities in the autonomic nervous system. Studies have shown that obese people who have a higher sympathetic tone have higher catecholamine levels. This can predispose to arythmogenesis and sudden death.To study pre and post-prandial BP recordings in obese and non obese young adults in the age group of 18 to 45 years.The study was conducted on 50 obese and 50 non obese patients admitted to our hospital over a period of three months. The patients are randomly selected and the BMI is calculated. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure is measured in supine position of the right arm using digital electronic blood pressure monitor. BP recordings are taken 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after meals. Then fall in BP is recorded.From this study we found that the mean systolic (pre-prandial 124.36, post-prandial 116.6) and diastolic blood pressure (pre-prandial 78.8 and post-prandial 75.4) is higher in obese than non obese patients. The study was statistically significant which was found by paired t-test (p<0.05).The fall in BP was significantly higher in obese (12 patients out of 50) than non obese (5 patients out of 50) patients. Probably obese patients had reduced cardiac sympathetic tone which caused post-prandial hypotension more than non obese patients.