Obesity is a physical condition, related to abnormalities of glucose a
nd insulin metabolism; it plays a substantial role in development of c
ardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to establish the corr
elations among cardiac mass determined by echography according to the
PENN Convention criteria (Devereux Index), blood pressure measured by
ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), and anthropometric indexe
s such as body mass index (BMI) and local adipose tissue distribution
expressed as the waist to hip ratio (WHR). Two groups of subjects were
selected, matched for age (67 +/- 2.5 years): 10 obese subjects with
BMI = 34.5 +/- 2.8 and WHR = 1.02 +/- 0.004; and 10 non-obese subjects
with BMI = 26.8 +/- 2.1 and WHR = 0.088 +/- 0.003. Statistical analys
is was carried out by the Mann-Whitney U-Test, and linear regression a
nalysis. The statistical analysis revealed a higher mean blood pressur
e (MBP) in the nonobese group (138.5 +/- 16.9 / 82.2 +/- 5.09 mmHg) co
mpared to the obese subjects (131 +/- 15.3 / 84.29 +/- 11.72 mmHg), th
e difference was not significant (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, a significa
nt difference was found in the left ventricular mass (LVM) and the LVM
index (LVMI) of the two groups (p < 0.005) as follows: LVM (norm) 224
.55 +/- 50.59: LVM(ob) = 295.02 +/- 43.54: LVMI(norm) 127.55 +/- 18.58
; LVMI(ob) = 172.48 +/- 15.44. These results represent an evidence sho
wing that obesity and blood pressure are two independent risk factors
in the determination of the ventricular cardiac mass.