Is there a connection between thigh size and blood pressure?
16 April, 2020
New research shows that larger thigh circumference could be associated with lower blood circulation pressure in people with overweight or obesity.
A report in the journal Endocrine Connections has explored the partnership between thigh circumference and high blood pressure, also referred to as hypertension, in a Chinese population with the average age of 50.
The researchers discovered that in persons with overweight or obesity, larger thigh circumference was connected with a lower prevalence of high blood circulation pressure.
Hypertension
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension influences approximately 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women.
It can improve the risk of a range of diseases, and the WHO report that high blood circulation pressure is “a major reason behind premature death worldwide.”
As the authors of the study in Endocrine Connections note, people with hypertension in its early stages experience few, if any, symptoms.
If a person will not receive treatment for high blood circulation pressure, they face a greater threat of significant illness or death. In the analysis authors’ words, “Hypertension is a silent killer.”
They note that previous research found positive links between upper-body obesity and hypertension, while lower-body obesity is positively connected with metabolic profiles that might protect against hypertension.
Because calculating surplus fat percentage could be costly and timely, researchers often use the circumference of certain body parts to estimate the number of fat in the body, the authors explain.
In addition they cite previous findings a high waist to thigh circumference ratio indicates a larger risk of hypertension.
In their present study, the authors investigated whether there is an association between thigh circumference alone and hypertension.
Over 9,000 participants
The study drew on data from a larger study, which viewed the chance factors for cancer among Chinese persons with diabetes.
The study population contains 9,520 people, all around the age of 40, including 3,095 men and 6,425 women.
The participants filled in a questionnaire, providing the authors with information linked to hypertension.
Physicians measured the participants’ thigh circumferences and in addition reported the common circumference of each participant’s thighs.
The participants also underwent blood pressure testing once they had rested for five minutes.
Larger thigh size and reduced risk
After analyzing the info, the authors found that a larger thigh circumference was connected with a lower rate of hypertension among people with overweight or obesity.
According to review author Zhen Yang, Ph.D., from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in China, this shows that “In contrast to stomach fat, leg fat could be good for metabolism.”
“The most likely cause of this association is that there surely is more thigh muscle and/or fat deposited under the skin which secretes various beneficial substances that help to keep blood pressure in a comparatively stable range.”
- Zhen Yang, Ph.D.
Interestingly, the authors explain that they “didn't observe a significant association between thigh circumference and hypertension in normal-weight individuals.”
This could lend credence to Yang’s suggestion that thigh muscle can also be beneficially adding to a person’s metabolism.
The authors acknowledge some limits to their study. First, because they had been concentrating on thigh circumference, they are unable to give detail about how precisely the type and level of thigh fat may relate to hypertension.
Furthermore, the hyperlink between thigh circumference and hypertension is merely observational, not causal: They are unsure of the mechanism behind the association.
Finally, the authors explain that their sample size contains middle-aged Chinese people. They acknowledge a population that includes younger people or people of other ethnicities might bring about different findings.
To take the research forward, Yang and the team plan to look at length at the composition of the thigh to raised understand any link with hypertension.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
TAG(s):