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Introduction: Modelling of associations of systolic blood pressure (BP) and blood glucose (BG) with their explanatory factors in separate regressions treats them as having independent biological mechanisms. This can lead to statistical inferences that are unreliable because the substantial overlap in their etiologic and disease mechanisms is ignored., Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationship of systolic blood pressure (BP) and blood glucose (BG) with measures of obesity and central fat distribution and other factors whilst taking account of the inter-dependence between them., Methods: Participants (n = 14706, 53.5 % females) aged 25-64 years were selected by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling from eight provinces each representing one of the eight geographical regions of Vietnam. Measurements were made using the World Health Organization STEPS protocols., Results: Structural modelling identified direct effects for BG (men P = 0.000, women P = 0.029), age (men P = 0.000, women P = 0.000) and body mass index (BMI) (men P = 0.000, women P = 0.000) in the estimation of systolic BP, and for systolic BP (men P = 0.036, women P = 0.000) and waist circumference (WC) (men P = 0.032, women P = 0.009) in the estimation of BG. There were indirect effects of age, cholesterol, physical activity and tobacco smoking via their influence on WC and BMI. The errors in estimation of systolic BP and BG were correlated (men P = 0.000, women P = 0.004), the stability indices (men 0.466, women 0.495) showed the non-recursive models were stable, and the proportion of variance explained was mid-range (men 0.553, women 0.579)., Conclusion: This study provided statistical evidence of a feedback loop between systolic BP and BG. BMI and WC were confirmed to be their primary explanatory factors. Saturated fat intake and physical activity were identified as possible targets of intervention for overweight and obesity, and indirectly for reducing systolic BP and BG. Harmful/hazardous alcohol intake was identified as a target of intervention for systolic BP.

A strong association between blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI) has been observed in developed and developing countries. Whether there are differences in these associations between Caucasians and Asians remains unknown. Our objective was to compare the associations of BP with fatness measures in the Caucasian and Asian samples. The study used data from two population-based cross-sectional studies conducted using similar methodology: a survey in Australia in 1998-1999 (n = 832 adults aged 25-64 years; 47% male) and a survey in Vietnam in 2005 (n = 1978 adults aged 25-64 years; 46% male). Participants completed questionnaires and attended clinics for physical measurements including BP and anthropometry. Linear regression was used for analysis. Independent of age, there were strong associations between BP indices and BMI in each sample, but the patterns of associations were different. Among Caucasians, pulse pressure (PP) increased with increasing BMI because the slope of systolic pressure with BMI exceeded the slope of diastolic pressure with BMI (P<0.001 for both sexes). In contrast, among Asians, PP decreased with increasing BMI. Associations between BMI and BP are different between Caucasian and Asian populations. Among Asians, the stronger association of increasing BMI and diastolic BP, but not PP, suggests a different pathophysiology related to hypertension.

This study examined physical activity in leisure time and at work as estimated by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and the associations between both total and domain-specific physical activity with cardiovascular risk factors in a population-based Vietnamese sample. Participants (n = 1978) were 25- to 64-year-old adults selected by stratified multistage sampling. Leisure activity contributed to <5% of total moderate and vigorous activity and was not associated with cardiovascular risk factors. Total moderate and vigorous activity was associated with body composition (r = -0.16 to -0.22; P < .001), blood glucose (r = -0.07; P < .05), and total cholesterol (r = -0.17; P < .001) for men and with total cholesterol (r = -0.07; P < .05) for women after adjusting for age. Further adjustment for smoking and alcohol intake made negligible changes. These associations were largely driven by work activity, which accounted for 80% of total activity.

Background: Pedometer measurement of physical activity (PA) has been shown to be reliable and valid in industrialized populations, but its applicability in economically developing Vietnam remains untested. This study assessed the feasibility, stability and validity of pedometer estimates of PA in Vietnam., Methods: 250 adults from a population-based survey were randomly selected to wear Yamax pedometers and record activities for 7 consecutive days. Stability and concurrent validity were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Spearman correlation coefficients., Results: Overall, 97.6% of participants provided at least 1 day of usable recordings, and 76.2% wore pedometers for all 7 days. Only 5.2% of the sample participants were involved in work activities not measurable by pedometer. The number of steps increased with hours of wear. There was no significant difference between weekday and weekend in number of steps, and at least 3 days of recordings were required (ICC of the 3 days of recordings: men 0.96, women 0.97). Steps per hour were moderately correlated (men r = .42, women r = .26) with record estimates of total PA., Conclusions: It is feasible to use pedometers to estimate PA in Vietnam. The measure should involve at least 3 days of recording irrespective of day of the week., (©2011 Human Kinetics, Inc.)