In several reports, packed cell volume (PCV) and body mass index (BMI) have been identified as risk factors that significantly contribute to blood pressure increase. Therefore, there is necessity to investigate the correlation between PCV and BMI in hypertensive and normotensive subjects. In this study, a total of 192 subjects of age between 19 and 70 years were examined, 79 subjects (40 males and 39 females) were hypertensive and 113 subjects (61 males and 52 females) were normotensive. In all subjects, blood pressure, body weight and height were measured via comfort automatic blood pressure monitor, Hasson emperor weighing scale and meter rule respectively. PCV also was measured through an automated haematology analyzer. There was a positive correlation between BMI and PCV in hypertensive subjects (male and female) but only significant in male subjects (r = 0.306, P<0.05) thus PCV has a significant positive linear correlation with BMI in hypertensive male subjects. Also, the linear positive correlation between PCV and BMI was not significant in both male and female normotensive subjects (r = 0.088 and r = 0.0288 respectively, P<0.05) unlike in hypertensive subjects where it was only significant in male but not significant in female (r = 0.0265, P<0.05). It can be suggested that there was close correlation between PCV and BMI (especially male subjects); this correlation increases the risk of hypertension, therefore primary preventions of hypertension by monitoring PCV and BMI in hypertension-prone subjects are considered important.
