title: Weight fluctuations could increase blood pressure in android obese women.
abstract: Recent studies have documented a relationship between increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases and a history of weight cycling (WC) in obese subjects. We performed a cross-sectional analysis in 96 weight-cycling android obese women, matched with 96 non-weight-cycling android obese women by age, body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), to evaluate any increase in blood pressure (BP) levels in association with WC. The patients were all between 20 and 45 years old, were non-menopausal, did not smoke, did not take any medication, had normal glucose tolerance and were otherwise healthy. A history of WC was established on the basis of at least five weight losses in the previous 5 years due to dieting, with a weight loss of at least 4.5 kg per cycle. We documented higher levels of casual BP in the weight-cycling obese compared with the non-weight-cycling subjects: 147+/-12/90+/-8 mmHg versus 125+/-14/79+/-8 mmHg (P<0.001). The women with WC showed a statistically significant positive correlation between BP and age, weight, BMI, waist circumference, WHR, total weight regained and weight cycling index (WCI). However, in a multiple regression model only the WHR and WCI contributed significantly to the BP variability. These findings could support the hypothesis that it is the combined exposure of central-type obesity and WC that strongly raises the prediction of hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Clinica Medica, Dipartimento di Medicina e Scienze dell'Invecchiamento, Università 'G. D'Annunzio', 66100 Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Guagnano
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pace-Palitti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrabs
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Merlitti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sensi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010507:Periodicity; D015431:Weight Loss