Influence of excess fat on cardiac morphology and function: study in uncomplicated obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether or not "uncomplicated" obesity (without associated comorbidities) is really associated with cardiac abnormalities.


METHODS
We evaluated cardiac parameters in obese subjects with long-term obesity, normal glucose tolerance, normal blood pressure, and regular plasma lipids. We selected 75 obese patients [body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m(2)], who included 58 women and 17 men (mean age, 33.7 +/- 11.9 years; BMI, 37.8 +/- 5.5 kg/m(2)) with a > or =10-year history of excess fat, and 60 age-matched normal-weight controls, who included 47 women and 13 men (mean age, 32.7 +/- 10.4 years; BMI, 23.1 +/- 1.4 kg/m(2)). Each subject underwent an oral glucose tolerance test to exclude impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus, bioelectrical impedance analysis to calculate fat mass and fat-free mass, and echocardiography.


RESULTS
Obese patients presented diastolic function impairment, hyperkinetic systole, and greater aortic root and left atrium compared with normal subjects. No statistically significant differences between obese subjects and normal subjects were found in indexed left ventricular mass (LVM/body surface area, LVM/height(2.7), and LVM/fat-free mass(kg)), and no changes in left ventricular geometry were observed. No statistically significant differences in cardiac parameters between extreme (BMI > 40 kg/m(2)) and mild obesity (BMI < 35 kg/m(2)) were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, our data showed that obesity, in the absence of glucose intolerance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, seems to be associated only with an impairment of diastolic function and hyperkinetic systole, and not with left ventricular hypertrophy.
Iacobellis
Gianluca
G
Endocrinology, Department of Clinical Sciences, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. gianluca.iaco@tin.it
Ribaudo
Maria Cristina
MC
Leto
Gaetano
G
Zappaterreno
Alessandra
A
Vecci
Elio
E
Di Mario
Umberto
U
Leonetti
Frida
F
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013599:Systole