Association of obesity with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in India: A meta-analysis of observational studies

AIM To perform a meta-analysis of the association of obesity with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) in India among adults. METHODS To conduct meta-analysis, we performed comprehensive, electronic literature search in the PubM ed, CINAHL Plus, and Google Scholar. We restricted the analysis to studies with documentation of some measure of obesity namely; body mass index, waist-hip ratio, waist circumference and diagnosis of hypertension or diagnosis of T2DM. By obtaining summary estimates of all included studies, the meta-analysis was performed using both RevM an version 5 and 'metan' command STATA version 11. Heterogeneity was measured by I~2 statistic. Funnel plot analysis has been done to assess the study publication bias.RESULTS Of the 956 studies screened, 18 met the eligibility criteria. The pooled odds ratio between obesity and hypertension was 3.82(95%CI: 3.39 to 4.25). The heterogeneity around this estimate(I~2 statistic) was 0%, indicating low variability. The pooled odds ratio from the included studies showed a statistically significant association between obesity and T2DM(OR = 1.14, 95%CI: 1.04 to 1.24) with a high degree of variability.CONCLUSION Despite methodological differences, obesity showed significant, potentially plausible association with hypertension and T2DM in studies conducted in India. Being a modifiable risk factor, our study informs setting policy priority and intervention efforts to prevent debilitating complications.