Thus, 3 factors likely to obscure the true
relation between obesity and blood pressure
are age, height, and size of arm. No previous
surveys, to my knowledge, have taken
into account all 3 of these factors, nor a
fourth very important factor, obesity itself.
It has always been assumed that excess weight
is a measure of excess fat.
We have been interested in reexamining the
question of obesity and blood pressure, among
the natives of New Guinea6 as well as in
Australian men,3 taking into account these
various factors. Skinfold thicknesses have
been accepted as a measure of obesity.7
Neither the amount of fat nor the total bulk
of the body had any demonstrable influence
on blood pressure in the natives. In Australians,
on the other hand, blood pressure was
related to over-all bulk but not apparently to
obesity per se. This latter conclusion was
somewhat indefinite because of the influence
of a wide age scatter and an unsatisfactory
site for skinfold measurements. These drawbacks
have been avoided in the survey which
forms the subject of the present report.