title: Body mass index and blood pressure influences on left ventricular mass and geometry in African Americans: The Atherosclerotic Risk In Communities (ARIC) Study.
abstract: A unique interaction between the influences of body mass index and blood pressure on left ventricular mass index and geometry may contribute to the higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in African Americans. This cross-sectional study assessed separate and joint influences of body mass index and blood pressure on left ventricular mass index and geometry in 1729 African American participants of the Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities Study. The association between both left ventricular mass index and relative wall thickness and body mass index in each blood pressure category and between these variables and blood pressure in each body mass index category was assessed adjusting for age, diabetes status, hypertension medication, and smoking status. We found that left ventricular hypertrophy and concentric geometry were highly prevalent and that body mass index and blood pressure were independently associated with left ventricular mass index. The adjusted association between blood pressure and left ventricular mass index was stronger with higher body mass index categories; however, there was no significant interaction suggesting merely an additive relationship (not synergistic/multiplicative as tested for in the interaction analysis). Although relative wall thickness was greater with higher categories of body mass index and blood pressure, the mean difference in relative wall thickness between body mass index and blood pressure categories was not statistically significant. The effect on left ventricular geometry as measured by relative wall thickness supports the theory that there is a pathophysiological component in the mechanism of hypertrophy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216-4505, USA. efox@medicine.umsmed.edu
authors.forename: Ervin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andrew
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Emad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skelton
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography