Hypertension Differs in Obese and Lean People

A study of 197 subjects has shown that obese patients with hypertension are less likely than lean hypertensives to die or have heart attacks or strokes. Conducted by researchers from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Long Beach, CA, USA) and State University of New York (Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA), the study was published in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Following standard treadmill tests, the researchers found that overweight hypertensive patients had a reduced response of adrenaline and other potentially dangerous stress hormones during physical exercise. In thin hypertensives, on the other hand, the involvement of hormones like adrenaline and renin appears to increase the size of the heart and cause stiffening of the arteries. Produced by cells in the kidney, renin is one of the principal target organs of high blood pressure.

The investigators also found that lipid values in the obese hypertension group differed from those in thin hypertensives. While both obese and lean hypertensives had significantly higher left ventricular mass index, the stroke volume/pulse pressure ratio was significantly lower in the lean hypertensive group.

"Although our findings pinpoint heightened cardiovascular dangers in thin hypertensives, they confirm that obese patients have high cholesterol levels and other metabolic abnormalities that can also put them at great risk of serious illness,” noted Michael AA. Weber, professor of medicine at Downstate Medical Center and lead investigator.



Related Links:
American College of Cardiology