Effect of nutritional counseling on body mass index of adult hypertensive attending general outpatient clinic, federal medical center, Ido-Ekiti South-Western Nigeria

Background: Achieving target blood pressure (BP) control has become an important management challenge, as the prevalence of hypertension increases in adult Nigerians. Overweight/obesity and lack of lifestyle behaviors are associated with difficulty in achieving target BP control. This study aim at determine the effect of nutritional counseling on body mass index (BMI) of adult hypertensive attending general outpatient clinic. Materials and Methods: An interventional study was performed on 322 adult patients (161 in the intervention group and 161 in the control group) with hypertension who had been on treatment for at least 3 months. Relevant data were collected using interviewer-administered the semi-structured questionnaire and clinical parameters were measured pre- and post-intervention. The intervention group was given nutritional counseling. Results: The mean BMI in the intervention group decreased to a statistically significant level (P < 0.001), from 25.42 +/- 3.99 to 24.89 +/- 3.64 compared to an increase in the control group from 25.36 +/- 3.73 to 25.39 +/- 3.74. The mean change in BMI of the intervention group (-0.53 +/- 0.59) was higher than the mean change in BMI of the control group (0.03 +/- 0.45), which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). More than two-third of the intervention group 135 (83.9%) had good BP control, compared to 68 (42.2%) of the control group. Conclusion: The nutritional status of the respondents in the intervention group is better than in the control group at the end of the study. Improved nutritional status led to better BMI. Family physicians will do well to counsel hypertensive patients on nutritional and lifestyle behavior with a view to improving BP control in them.