Leg and arm adiposity is inversely associated with diastolic hypertension in young and middle-aged United States adults

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine the association between appendicular adiposity and hypertension, with the purpose of better understanding the role of body fat distribution on blood pressure (BP). METHODS: We included 7411 adults aged 20 to 59 who were not taking antihypertensives and without cardiovascular disease from the 2011 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Leg & arm adiposity, determined via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans, was defined as percent of total body fat present in legs/arms (leg/total%, arm/total%). Measures were categorized into sex-specific tertiles. We estimated change in BP and odds ratios (ORs) of hypertension (BP ≥ 130/80) and hypertension subtypes using multivariable, survey design-adjusted linear & logistic regression, respectively. RESULTS: Of the participants, 49% were female, the average (standard deviation) age was 37.4 (0.3) years, and 24% had hypertension. Those in the highest tertile (T3) of leg/total% had 30% decreased adjusted ORs (aOR) of hypertension compared to the lowest tertile (T1; aOR, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.55–0.89). This association was not significant for arm/total% (0.89, 0.68–1.17). T3 of leg/total% was associated with 49% lower, 41% lower, and unchanged relative odds of isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH), systolic-diastolic hypertension (SDH), and isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) compared to T1 (IDH: 0.51, 0.37–0.70; SDH: 0.59, 0.43–0.80; ISH: 1.06, 0.70–1.59). For every 10% increase in leg/total%, diastolic BP decreased by an adjusted mean 3.5 mmHg (95% CI, − 4.8 to − 2.2) in males and 1.8 mmHg (95% CI, − 2.8 to − 0.8) in females (P < 0.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS: A greater proportional distribution of fat around the legs is inversely, independently associated with hypertension, and more specifically, diastolic hypertension (IDH and SDH). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40885-021-00190-2.