Is There an Association between Sleeping Patterns and Other Environmental Factors with Obesity and Blood Pressure in an Urban African Population?

Beyond changing dietary patterns, there is a paucity of data to fully explain the high prevalence of obesity and hypertension in urban African populations. The aim of this study was to determine whether other environmental factors (including sleep duration, smoking and physical activity) are related to body anthropometry and blood pressure (BP). Data were collected on 1311 subjects, attending two primary health care clinics in Soweto, South Africa. Questionnaires were used to obtain data on education, employment, exercise, smoking and sleep duration. Anthropometric and BP measurements were taken. Subjects comprised 862 women (mean age 41 ± 16 years and mean BMI 29.9 ± 9.2 kg/m2) and 449 men (38 ± 14 years and 24.8 ± 8.3 kg/m2). In females, ANOVA showed that former smokers had a higher BMI (p 30 minutes was related to a lower BMI (β = -0.04, p30 minutes/day was related to lower systolic (β = -0.02, p